As I toured the show’s playful set, with its distinctive brightly-coloured staircase, I picked up a few clues as to how the director’s despair will be reflected this time around.
In this series, the previous winner, Gi-hun, re-enters the game on a quest to bring it down and save the latest round of contestants.
According to Lee Jung-jae, who plays the leading character, he is “more desperate and determined” than before.
The floor of the dormitory, where the contestants sleep at night, has been divided in two.
One half is branded with a giant red neon X symbol, the other with a blue circle.
Now, after every game, the players must pick a side, depending on whether they want to end the contest early and survive, or keep playing, in the knowledge all but one of them will die. The majority decision rules.
This, I am told, will lead to more factionalism and fights.
It is part of director Hwang’s plan to expose the dangers of living in an increasingly tribal world. Forcing people to pick sides, he believes, is fuelling conflict.
For all those who were captivated by the shocking storytelling of Squid Game, there were others who found it gratuitously violent and difficult to watch.
But it is clear from talking to Hwang, that the violence is fully thought out. He is a man who thinks and cares deeply about the world and is motivated by a mounting unease.
“When making this series, I constantly asked myself ‘do we humans have what it takes to steer the world off this downhill path?’. Honestly, I don’t know,” he says.
While viewers of the second series might not get the answers to these big life questions, they can at least be comforted that some plot holes will be filled in – like why the game exists, and what is motivating the masked Front Man running it.
“People will see more of the Front Man’s past, his story and his emotions,” reveals the actor Lee Byung-hun, who plays the mysterious role.
“I don’t think this will make viewers warm to him, but it may help them better understand his choices.”
