After success of Season 1, Squid Game creator 'really contemplating’ a second season at Netflix

Who’s up for some more torture? After the breakout success of Netflix’s Squid Game, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is reportedly weighing whether directing more brutal brushes with death via grown-up versions of kids’ games is worth it — even if he did lose six teeth, thanks to stress, while helming Season 1.

“Writing, producing, and directing a series alone was really such a big task,” the South Korean director confessed to CNN recently, when asked about the possibility of building on Squid Game’s dystopian legacy with a second season.

That same report notes the hit that Hwang’s dental health took while filming Squid Game’s nine original episodes, which have surged to the top of Netflix viewing queues (and sold tons of Vans shoes) all over the world since the series first debuted on Sept. 17. But even a half-dozen missing teeth may not be enough to deter the director from answering the bell if Netflix comes calling again. 

“When I think about doing the same for Season 2, I'm personally kind of worried,” he said, before adding the part that’s likely to give Squid Game fans a glimmering ray of hope: “There’s nothing confirmed at the moment, but so many people are enthusiastic that I'm really contemplating it.”

Winning Squid Game’s deadly gauntlet of high-stakes children’s playground games means big bucks for the eventual champion — but it also means almost certain death for everybody else. In addition to main character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a down-on-his-luck dad who’s not above pilfering his mom’s credit card to gamble away a day at the racetrack, costar Anupam Tripathi, appearing early in the series as fellow contestant Ali Abdul, has also won a place in fans’ hearts for bringing a selfless team mentality to a do-or-die contest that, in Squid Game, is anything but team-oriented. 

“We felt that it will be received well, but when it became a phenomenon and sensation, it was not expected — I was not prepared,” Tripathi recently admitted to Variety, while also hedging his bets on whether the series could be renewed for a second season. 

“I can’t say anything on that because that depends on the director and the writer and the production team, I hope, because everybody’s loving it,” he joked. 

No one wants Hwang to lose any more teeth to get it done, but it seems that everyone does want more Squid Game. While we wait to see what Hwang and Netflix might hammer out for the show's future, check out our lineup of more dystopian screen nightmares to keep your sweet tooth sated for all things bloodlust-adjacent.