Netflix hit Squid Game won a number of Emmys last night, including best lead in the drama category for Lee Jung-Jae and outstanding directing for the creator of the twisted South Korean series, Hwang Dong-hyuk. The latter won for the episode “Red Light, Green Light” and was on hand backstage to talk to press about the win… and Netflix’s upcoming reality show based on his series.
“What I hope is that they will be carrying on my vision and intention as much as possible for the show,” TV Line quoted the director in reaction to Squid Game: The Challenge — which invites 456 players to compete for $US4.56 ($6) million. Capitalism is gonna capitalism, and this spin-off appears to completely ignore how the series utilises its game-show premise to explore structural problems within society and how it’s not sustainable for people’s livelihoods — only benefitting a small percentage of the rich while the working class dies to survive. But you know, it looks like fun! Rest assured though, the reality show will not include purposeful murder, “The stakes are high, but in this game, the worst fate is going home empty-handed,” reads the official release.
Hwang added, “I think that even though our show does carry quite a heavy message — and I know that there are some concerns on taking that message and creating it into a reality show with a cash prize — I feel like when you take things too seriously, that’s really not the best way to go for the entertainment industry. It doesn’t really set a great precedent.” At the end of the day, he noted, it’s just a work of fiction. “So, I would say that reproductions of such efforts are going to bring new meaning to the industry and I hope that this is going to be a great new direction for the industry overall.”
Squid Game: The Challenge and Squid Game season 2 two not yet have release dates but are coming soon to Netflix.
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