“A cis man who pretends to be a minority just doesn’t suit me” – comments like these flood the internet.
Even before the second season of “Squid Game” starts on December 26, 2024, the Netflix series is already causing a stir. But not in a good way: Voices are being raised on the Internet that speak out against the casting of actor Park Sung-hoon – he portrays the transgender woman Hyung-ju, who takes part in the games in order to finance gender reassignment surgery. Many people on social media are saying that a trans actress should have been booked for the role instead of a cis man.
New teaser sparks shitstorm
Before the new episodes were released, the streaming service published a ten-minute teaser online in which the cast talks about their parts in the brutal series. Actor Park Sung-hoon also has his say in the clip – and has probably put the focus on himself in a negative way. “Pop Base” and similar sites picked up the news on social media that the actor would portray a trans person. This was followed by comments such as: “You can’t represent like that… A cis man pretending to be a minority just doesn’t sit well with me, especially when they could have hired a real trans actress” and “Why are they giving the role not just a real trans woman” or “Why not hire a real trans woman for the role”.
Others tried to relent by pointing out that the drama series is of South Korean origin. For example, on X it said: “Small steps, bro, SK is different. Anyone who smokes a little bit of weed will be canceled. Idols who date idols will also be eliminated. An idol reading a book about feminism is through below. “Just take the win,” one person commented, probably meaning that the “win” in this case would be the fact that there would even be a trans person in the Netflix show from South Korea.
The “Meet the Cast” video:
The “most popular series in the world”?
The first season of “Squid Game” was an immense success: it was the most-watched Netflix series of all time. The expectations for a sequel are correspondingly high. The question of how the makers want to maintain the hype and repeatedly land a hit is therefore permissible. At a press conference, Bela Bajaria responded: “You know, it’s hard to be the most popular series in the world.” A bold claim – but the numbers speak for themselves.
The South Korean series started in September 2021. In the first four weeks alone, more than 111 million users tuned in and watched the violent goings-on on the screen for a total of 1.65 billion hours. With a total of over 265 million views, the production is well ahead of the second most successful international series on Netflix.
“If you loved the first season, you will definitely love the second one too. She creatively delivers what I think people would want,” Bajaria continued at the press conference. The only question is: is that enough? Netflix seems to be convinced of this. A third season is also scheduled to follow in 2025. It was largely shot parallel to the episodes that are now being released.
Success story from South Korea
In season one, viewers rooted for indebted Gi-hun as he volunteered for the “Squid Game” to regain custody of his daughter and pay his mother’s hospital bills. In the end he was able to win under grueling conditions.
The Netflix companion page “Tudum” describes the sequel’s plot as follows: “Three years after winning the Squid Game, Player 456 has given up on going to the States and returns with a new resolution. Gi-hun once again delves into the mysterious survival game and begins another game of life and death with new participants competing for the prize of 45.6 billion won.”
Showrunner, director and executive producer remains Emmy winner Hwang Dong-hyuk. In addition to Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun as police officer Hwang Jun-ho and Gong Yoo as the recruiter of the candidates for the games also return.