Fans of “;Squid Game” had better not be holding their breath: creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has yet to write the script for season two and said Monday it would likely not be released before late 2024.
“;I have to work on season two. Hopefully I can show it to the fans by the end of 2024,” the South Korean writer-director said at the MIPTV festival in Cannes in the south of France.
A day earlier at the adjoining Canneseries festival, he had admitted to writing only three pages of the script for the follow-up to the violent mega-hit.
“;Squid Game” features contestants from marginalised parts of society competing in traditional South Korean children´s games for money — with the losers put to death.
Netflix said in October that 142 million subscribers had watched the show — some two-thirds of its users ̵2; a record that demands a second series.
But Hwang originally wrote the show as a feature film in 2009 and was only convinced to make a TV series after Netflix arrived in South Korea in 2016.
He said reworking the script for seven months was not pleasant.
“;It was hell. Maybe season two will be my last series,” he said with a laugh.
There were plenty of benefits to success, however, with Hwang getting a chance to meet his “;idol”, Steven Spielberg, who told him he had binged the whole show in three days.
“;He said he wanted to steal my brain,” Hwang said.
Hwang is also working on a film that sounds not too far removed from his hit show.
“;KO Club” is a film about killing old people, based on a book by Italian author Umberto Eco.
Hwang said it was “;even more violent than Squid Game”.
“;I will need to steer clear of elderly people after its release,” he added.