The Netflix show became a massive success worldwide, leading to five Emmy nominations and two winners. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk and lead actor Lee Jung-jae won Emmys on Monday, September 12, 2022.

At the prestigious event, the director expressed his opinion on Netflix’s reality show spin-off, Squid Game: The Challenge. In an interview backstage with TVLine, Dong-hyuk said:

Hwang Dong-hyuk’s take on Squid Game: The Challenge

Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk told TVLine that the creators of the spin-off met him earlier and had multiple questions about his series. He further expressed his worries related to the reality show. He stated:

Dong-hyuk mentioned that his award-winning series carried a “heavy message” about the dark side of capitalism. He then admitted that he realizes people’s “concerns on taking that message and creating it into a reality show with a cash prize.”

In the interview, Dong-hyuk stated that he would want the show’s fans not to take the format seriously. He appealed that the spin-off should only be considered a fictional game show.

The director ended his opinion by saying:

The original Netflix show, Squid Game, aired nine episodes on the streamer on September 17, 2021. The official synopsis read:

The series featured Lee Jung-jae, HoYeon Jung, Park Hae-soo, Gong Yoo, O Yeong-su, and Anupam Tripathi.

What is Squid Game: The Challenge all about?

In June, Netflix released a teaser of Squid Game: The Challenge, which mentioned that 456 players would participate to win a $4.56 million cash prize.

The clip introduced the game show as:

Fans can apply to participate in the game by visiting squidgamecasting.com. The only primary requirement is that the contestant should be an English-language speaker. Given the original series’ plotline, the spin-off’s criteria clarified that the game’s worst fate was leaving the show empty-handed.

Speaking about the reality competition series to Decider, Netflix’s VP of unscripted and documentary series Brandon Riegg said:

The creators have not yet announced the game show’s release date or any further details.

Meanwhile, Squid Game’s original team is celebrating their Emmy wins. Apart from the categories of director and lead actor, the series was also nominated for the Outstanding drama series category.

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