Few of Netflix’s upcoming projects are a hotly anticipated as Squid Game season 2 – which means the pressure is on for creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. And he’s definitely feeling it.
“Season 1 was just too successful not to feel pressured by it,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Nonetheless, delving into the (pretty grim) world of his creation in the process of writing the next season provides some relief.
“When I am actually writing the script, I really immerse myself in that world I created, and it feels less daunting to me,” he says. “Once I sit in front of my laptop, I become part of the world that I created and I totally forget about the real world that I’m in.”
When it comes to the second season, Hwang says he doesn’t want the creative direction to be a response to the reactions to the first.
Hinting at what fans can expect from the new episodes, he says: “The philosophies I put in season one all naturally extend to season 2.
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“Instead of trying to meet the expectations of viewers, I just thought about the last moment when Gi-hun turned away from boarding the plane, and I thought about what he will do next.
“There will naturally be a flow of events that will lead all the way to the end of the season,” he continues. “I can’t share any details yet, but you know that Seong Gi-hun has become a totally new person by the end of season 1, so season 2 is going to be about what that new Gi-hun is going to do and how things will unfold with this new kind of character.”
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