- Gi-hun returns for more games in Squid Game season 2
- Lee Jung-jae says returning was like being “pulled back into hell”
- The new series is set to launch on Netflix in late 2024
Squid Game season 2 is busy preparing a new set of terrifying games that will launch worldwide on Netflix later this year.
Released in 2020, season 1 followed hundreds of gamblers who entered a game where they stood to win a life-changing amount of money. However, for their jackpot prize to rise, fellow players had to die, with the sole remaining contender taking home 45.6 billion won (around $38 million)
At the heart of director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s new season is the show’s reluctant hero Seong Gi-hun, played by South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae. As the series’ troubled star, Gi-hun somehow managed to emerge as Squid Game season 1’s victor – but according to the show’s creators, the win came at a cost.
Read more: Everything we know about Squid Game season 2
After the original series propelled the Jung-jae to worldwide acclaim, he went on to star in Star Wars spin-off series The Acolyte. While news of a second series remained up in the air, it was finally confirmed in June 2022, with Gi-hun set to return to his familiar Squid Game jumpsuit.
With that, the scene was set for more Squid Game action. However, when the show finally returns, we should expect a different Gi-hun to the one we met in season 1.
What happened to Gi-hun at the end of Squid Game season 1?
Despite managing to escape his first experience unscathed, season 2 will see Gi-hun decide to return to the game, despite its deadly consequences.
Warning: Squid Game season 1 spoilers lurk below…
At the end of Squid Game season 1, Gi-hun found himself as one of two finalists alongside his childhood friend Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo). When the pair were pitting against each other in one final game, Gi-hun refused to kill his opponent, forfeiting the challenge and his chance at the prize money.
Unfortunately, his peaceful plan was altered when Sang-woo suddenly took his own life, effectively making Gi-hun the overall winner of the cash prize.
Read more: What happened in Squid Game season 1?
With the money transferred to his bank account, Gi-hun leaves the game and spends the next year lost and unable to touch any of his winnings. When he receives a mysterious card, he learns that an elderly player he met in the game is not only still alive but actually one of its originators.
After this revelation, Gi-hun prepares to travel to Los Angeles to visit his estranged daughter. However, when he sees a Squid Game representative recruiting new players in the subway, he changes his plans.
Dying his hair a shocking red, season 1 leaves Gi-hun determined to put an end to this deadly sport once and for all.
Why does Gi-hun return to the Squid Game in Squid Game season 2?
According to Jung-jae, season 2 could find Gi-hun struggling with a serious case of survivor’s guilt. It’s something that impacted the actor’s real-life experiences too.
“We didn’t plan on making a season two, so it was like I was pulled back into hell,” Jung-jae told Vanity Fair. “Because many characters had died, I vividly remembered all the pain I portrayed as my character, Seong Gi-hun. I felt a gigantic wave of trauma once again. I personally lived with those horrific emotions during the entire production.”
In the time between seasons 1 and 2, Gi-hun has reportedly been using his prize money to track down those responsible for creating the Squid Game. However, to end it for good, he must re-enter the arena.
“While playing the games, I asked myself, Is my conscience working as well as Gi-hun’s? In Korea there is a proverb: ‘A conscience that doesn’t lead to action is not a well-working conscience at all,’” he told the outlet.
“Gi-hun’s has always led to his actions, and I was really moved by that. It made me think—life is not about earning a lot of money just to have a great life for myself. It’s about living together in harmony and helping others.”
This matches up with quotes shared by director Dong-hyuk who explained that “season 2 explores how Gi-hun follows through on his words after leaving the airport… Gi-hun’s endeavor [is] to find out who these people are and why they do what they do is the core story of Season 2.”
Shortly afterwards, Dong-hyuk followed these quotes up by revealing that Gi-hun will be “faced with his memories of the first game.”
“If Season 1 was about the story of Gi-hun [Lee], or player no. 456, entering Squid Game for the first time and about how he survives and leaves the game as a winner, Season 2 is going to be about Gi-hun [being] faced with his memories of the first game,” said the director, adding “the experiences of going through a new realization and awakening and returning once again to the game in order to stop this unjust game.”
Does Gi-hun still have red hair in Squid Game season 2?
According to what we’ve already seen from season 2, it looks like Gi-hun ultimately decides to ditch his red hair.
This might make sense from a narrative point of view. After all, it’d be hard to blend in with his fellow players if Gi-hun was still sporting a bright red hairdo.
According to Dong-hyuk, this aesthetic choice was originally made to display the character’s intense anger.
The director explained he was “thinking about how Gi Hun should change his hair in a hair salon. I imagined being him and thought to myself, ‘What is the color that you would never choose to dye your hair?’ Then I came to the conclusion that Gi-hun would never dye his hair red. It would be the craziest thing for him to do.
“So I chose the color and I thought it really showed his inner anger.”
