Anyone who thought that a real game show based on the South Korean social criticism thriller Squid Game would be perverse or even ironic has not yet heard the incredible story of series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. The After the first season, it hardly had any of the success of the sensational serieswhich made Netflix nearly $1 billion more valuable, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The reason: The series creator was paid a fixed price without participation in the success or bonus and had to assign all rights to Squid Game to Netflix. The fact that the format was produced relatively cheaply over 1.65 billion hours streamed being the service’s most-watched series and winning six Emmys, made no difference.
The Squid Game maker barely earned anything from the Netflix series, but lost several teeth
It was already known that Hwang didn’t get rich with Squid Game in 2021 before he was able to negotiate a hopefully better deal for Season 2. He undertook this work, among other things, to have some of the success of the series, because season 1 stressed him out so much that, according to the most recent BBC report, he lost eight or nine teeth. This almost sounds like the dystopian survival game states that the game directors of the squid games create.
In an interview with the British news organization, the bruised expressed Creator of the most successful Netflix series of all time it like this:
Even though Season 1 was such a global success, I honestly didn’t make much. The 2nd season will also help me compensate for the success of the 1st season.
And the brutal twist: Working on the long-awaited follow-up season is said to have been even more stressful. Not only because of the great expectations for the continuation of the story of Squid Game survivor Gi-Hun (Jung-Jae Lee), but also because of the political world climate and a wealth gap that is becoming ever wider. Hwang continues very pessimistically:
The stress I feel now is much greater. […]. When I was filming this season, I constantly asked myself, ‘Do we as humans have what it takes to keep the world back from the brink?’ Honestly, I don’t know.
Authors who are no longer adequately and continuously compensated for film and series work in the brave new streaming world caused a standstill in the entertainment industry in 2023. The whole thing was called a Hollywood strike, in which actors eventually joined to negotiate better conditions and security in the age of streaming and AI.
The situation is even more precarious for creatives in non-American foreign countries, who in most cases do not have a large lobby to protect themselves against exploitative strategies.
When does Squid Game continue on Netflix?
The second season of the South Korean hit series Squid Game is finally finished after three years of waiting. On December 26, 2024 it goes online internationally on Netflix. An English-language spin-off is also being considered.