Squid Game season 2: Netflix’s first teaser reveals new details

The second season of a hugely popular show is coming – and its creator has revealed tantalising details of what to expect.

Squid Game is returning for a second season. Picture: Netflix/Twitter

If your life is missing some murderous robot dolls, that gap is about to be filled.

Netflix has revealed the first details of Squid Game season two in a teaser video and a message from creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk.

With its compulsive story centred on dastardly win-or-die games which exploited poor people and wealth inequality, the South Korean series Squid Game became Netflix’s most watched original title when it clocked up 1.65 billion viewing hours on the platform in the first four weeks after its release.

The teaser video features an extreme close-up of the blinking red eye of the giant animatronic doll in the first game in the series pilot. Her lethal bullets dispatched anyone who dared move after the red light flashed.

Red light… GREENLIGHT!

Squid Game is officially coming back for Season 2! pic.twitter.com/4usO2Zld39

— Netflix (@netflix) June 12, 2022

Hwang let fans know the doll, named Young-hee, will be back for the next season and this time, she’s coupled up, threatening to unleash her boyfriend on would-be victims.

There were scant concrete details in terms of the plot but Hwang said protagonist Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and the villainous Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) are both returning, plus the man in the suit (Gong Yoo) who recruits players with a game of ddakji.

“It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year. But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever,” Hwang wrote in the statement posted to Twitter.

“As the writer, director and producer of Squid Game, a huge shout-out to fans around the world. Thank you for watching and loving our show.

“Join us once more for a whole new round.”

No win really wins in Squid Game.

Squid Game became the surprise hit of 2021 when it overwhelmed pop cultural discourse with audiences around the world obsessing over the series and its many shocking twists and turns.

Hwang has previously revealed that he struggled to get the series greenlit for a decade with many Korean studios rejecting his pitch over the show’s strong violence.

He said he was living with his mother and grandmother when he conceived of the story, and he was so cash-poor, he sold his laptop for $US675 to make ends meet.

Hwang’s lived experience of being on the socio-economic margins infused Squid Game’s themes about the struggles of the working poor and how the wealthy and status quo exploit their desperation to survive.

Squid Game’s plot involves a large-scale competition with 456 debt-ridden contestants clamouring to win a cash prize of $US50 million. To win, you have to literally survive a series of children’s games as the last one standing.

The show was a huge hit among audiences but also critics. Squid Game was praised for its thematic richness, bold production design and visual identity as well as the performances from its cast.

Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-Yeon won the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series awards at the Screen Actors Guild ceremony earlier this year. It was the first time those awards had gone to a non-English language series.

Squid Game is expected to be competitive at the upcoming Emmy Awards.