- Squid Game season 2 is now streaming on Netflix
- Audiences have been captivated by the new Player 001
- But who is the character and also the actor behind the role?
Squid Game season 2 has burst onto Netflix and already broken streaming records to become one of the platform’s most-watched new shows.
The hugely anticipated new series debuted on 26 December 2024 and continued the story of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). After narrowly escaping his first experience in these deadly games, he returns to a new Squid Game with a new mindset.
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Instead of simply making it out alive, Gi-hun’s new goal is to convince his fellow players that the game itself isn’t worth playing. No small feat, considering the prize jackpot grows each time a player is eliminated.
However, that isn’t his only problem. This time, Gi-hun is joined by a new face, someone familiar to viewers to but unknown to our determined hero.
So who is Player 001 in Squid Game 2? What are his goals and where have you seen the actor who plays him before?
With major Squid Game season 2 spoilers ahead, here’s what you need to know…
Who is player 001 in Squid Game 2?
Joining Gi-hun in Squid Game 2 is Player 001, a character who is actually the Front Man – the sinister, masked villain and overseer of Gi-hun’s first Squid Game experience.
Having only ever encountered the Front Man while he’s wearing his mask or just a disembodied voice coming out of a speaker, Gi-hun is unaware that his new Squid Game colleague is really the enemy he’s trying to defeat. Within the game, Player 001 goes under the name Young-il.
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Throughout Squid Game season 2, Player 001 tries to get close to Gi-hun, appearing as a potential friend and partner. However, audiences are aware of his true motive: to undermine Gi-hun’s goal of convincing players the game isn’t the answer to their various life problems.
In addition to this narrative, Squid Game season 2 also gives us a glimpse at who this character was before he became the evil Front Man. During key episodes, we meet the Front Man at an earlier point in his life, back when he was known as In-ho.
During flashbacks, we learn that In-ho was once a lauded policeman who found himself entering the Squid Game – and winning. The experience forever changed him, leading him to become the game’s masked overseer.
Who plays Player 001 in Squid Game 2?
South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun portrays Player 001 in Squid Game 2, a character also known as In-ho and the dreaded Front Man.
Before starring in Netflix’s hugely popular series, Byung-hun had gathered an enviable list of film and TV projects.
In 2018, he starred in Mr Sunshine, a TV series about Korea’s fight for independence that went on to become the third highest-rated TV show in Korean cable history.
He’s also appeared in a number of Korean-language movies including 2003’s All In, 2005’s A Bittersweet Life, 2010’s I Saw The Devil and Masquerade in 2012.
Western audiences may recognise Byung-hun from his appearance in American movies such as 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation in which he played Storm Shadow.
He also shared the screen with Bruce Willis in 2013’s Red 2 and played a T-1000 Terminator robot in 2015’s Terminator Genisys. In 2016, he played Billy Rocks alongside Hollywood stars Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington and Vincent D’Onofrio in a remake of The Magnificent Seven.
