Squid Game (오징어게임; Revised Romanization: Ojing-eo Geim) is a 2021 South Korean survival drama series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk (who previously directed Silenced). Consisting of nine episodes, all written and directed by Hwang, it was first made available for streaming on Netflix worldwide on September 17, 2021. The series stars Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, and Wi Ha-joon, with model Jung Ho-yeon in her debut acting role and Gong Yoo and Lee Byung-hun in special appearances.
Middle-aged chauffeur Seong Gi-hun (Lee) lives with his mother in perpetual poverty, knee-deep in debt from a failed business venture and a serious gambling addiction while also struggling to support his daughter after a divorce. One day after missing a train, a sharply-dressed salesman (Gong) approaches Gi-hun and offers him â‚©100,000note if he wins a game of ddakjinote , getting slapped across the face every time he loses. After Gi-hun takes up the offer and wins a few games (at the cost of more than a few slaps), the man then gives him a card and invites him to play similar games with much more at stake.
Eventually accepting the offer, Gi-hun is taken to an unknown location alongside 455 other people, each given a green tracksuit and a number, and all of them monitored by masked guards in pink suits who answer to a mysterious man, also masked, known only as the Front Man. It is explained that all 456 people have unpayable debts, but are being given a chance to free themselves from their dire straits once and for all by playing six children's games over the course of six days, after which they are either eliminated or the winner of a grand prize of â‚©45.6 billionnote (â‚©100 millionnote per player).
However, it isn't until the first game is underway that it's made clear what exactly was meant by "eliminating" players.
As Gi-hun finds allies and enemies in others amid the physical and psychological twists of the game, several outside variables, including a police officer with a missing brother determined to bring those behind the game to justice, introduce unforeseen complications that threaten to throw the game into chaos.
In November 2021
, Hwang announced plans for a second season of the show; the renewal was officially confirmed by Netflix in June 2022, and the season is scheduled for release in 2024. Also announced with the series' renewal was a 10-episode reality game show spin-off titled Squid Game: The Challenge in which 456 contestants play the games from the series for a $4.56 million prize; the show premiered on Netflix on November 22, 2023 and concluded on December 6, 2023. In the meantime of production, an unreleased clip from the first season's filming was uploaded on Netflix's YouTube channel, which can be viewed here.
Squid Game provides examples of:
General examples
Tropes with their own pages
