The success of Squid Game took the world by surprise, with the then-obscure South Korean series becoming Netflix’s biggest-ever hit. While this has immediately set in motion plans for season 2 and boosted the Korean film and TV industry to boot, one person who doesn’t feel complete joy over the series' success is actor Lee Jung-jae, who became the first Asian to win an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for his role as Seong Gi-hun aka Player 456. While he is proud to have been part of such a momentous show, the way the subject matter has appealed to and struck a chord with so many people has taken some of the shine off the achievement. He explained to The Guardian:

“I’m happy about it, of course, but it’s bittersweet. Yes, it’s great that audiences are consuming Korean content around the world. And they appreciate it. But if you think about the themes of Squid Game – how far are we willing to go to accumulate personal wealth; the lengths people are forced to go to – the fact it resonated with so many around the world is worrying. You get a sense this is the reality for so many people globally. And that makes me feel hugely sad.

And we had to express the experiences of these characters being pushed to those extremes. Doing that? It was terrible. The more beautiful the game set was, and the more childish and fun it seemed, the more horrific it was for the characters, and therefore us as actors. I do think about what happened in that show. It’s impossible not to. And it made me think about what I’m not doing. Many of us live obliviously. It made me rethink how I look at the world. It couldn’t not.”

Related: Squid Game Creator Tells Fans Not to Worry About Reality Series Spin-Off

When Will Squid Game Season 2 Be Released?

Squid Game Netflix mask
Netflix

Currently, there is no set date for the second season of Squid Game coming to Netflix, and soon after the sudden popularity of the brutal drama, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk made it clear that he was in no hurry to work on a second season. He said at the time:

"Of course there is talk. That's inevitable because it's been such a success. I am considering it. I have a very high-level picture in my mind, but I'm not going to work on it straight away. There's a film I really want to make. I'm thinking about which to do first. I'm going to talk to Netflix."

While the official announcement of Squid Game season 2 didn’t come until earlier this year, Hwang seems to have only recently started thinking about the script, although he did tease some of what fans can expect from Lee’s character in the new season, including his need for revenge. Hwang told Deadline:

"I mean the biggest change will be the change of [Lee Jung-jae's] character. Because he's a different guy in season 2. You know he turned his hair color to red and he became like something more like, serious, more like going for revenge so his character will be totally different."