Give this man what he wants, Netflix…
It’s official – Squid Game has marked the biggest series launch in Netflix history.
Though the data released by the streaming giant can be a bit one-sided at the best of times, if we take the company at its word then over 111 million people worldwide have tuned in to the survival thriller.
It beats the previous record-holder Bridgerton, which had amassed 82 million views from Netflix users over the same time period after its release.
The nine-episode series ends on something of a cliffhanger but even if it didn’t, you could bet whatever Budget 2022 money you might have left over that Netflix will eventually give a second season the green light.
Though that has yet to officially happen, show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is already discussing his vision for the future of the runaway success.
**Some spoilers to follow so maybe don’t read on if you haven’t finished yet.**
In conversation with the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, Hwang seemed satisfied by the show’s current resolution, though noted that there are “a lot of possibilities out there” for future storylines.
“It’s true that season one ended in an open-ended way, but I actually thought that this could be good closure for the whole story, too. Season one ends with Gi-hun turning back and not getting on the plane to the States,” he said.
“And that was, in fact, my way of communicating the message that you should not be dragged along by the competitive flow of society, but that you should start thinking about who has created the whole system — and whether there is some potential for you to turn back and face it.
“So it’s not necessarily Gi-hun turning back to get revenge,” Hwang continued.
“It could actually be interpreted as him making a very on the spot eye contact with what is truly going on in the bigger picture. So I thought that might be a good simple, but ambiguous, way to end the story for Gi-hun.”
In terms of who Hwang might focus on – well, he has options aplenty.
“There are some other stories in the series that have not been addressed,” he said.
“For example, the story of the police officer and the story of his brother, The Front Man. So if I end up creating season two, I’d like to explore that storyline — what is going on between those two brothers? And then I could also go into the story of that recruiter in the suit who plays the game of ddakji with Gi-hun and gives him the card in the first episode.
“And, of course, we could go with Gi-hun’s story as he turns back, and explore more about how he’s going to navigate through his reckoning with the people who are designing the games. So, I don’t know yet, but I’ll just say there are a lot of possibilities out there for season two storylines.”
Give him everything he wants, Netflix!
You can read the full interview, which is very good, right here.
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