Squid Game season 2

*Squid Game*
Squid Game
Season 2
	Promotional poster
Showrunner	Hwang Dong-hyuk
Starring	Lee Jung-jae; Lee Byung-hun; Wi Ha-joon; Im Si-wan; Kang Ha-neul; Park Gyu-young; Lee Jin-wook; Park Sung-hoon; Yang Dong-geun; Kang Ae-shim; Jo Yu-ri; Lee Meisa;
No. of episodes	7
Release
Original network	Netflix
Original release	December 26, 2024
Season chronology
	← Previous; Season 1 Next →; Season 3
	List of episodes

The second season of South Korean dystopian survival thriller television series Squid Game, marketed as Squid Game 2 (Korean: 오징어 게임 2) and created by South Korean writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, was released on Netflix on December 26, 2024.

Quick facts Showrunner, Starring ...

Four days after its premiere, the second season had set new streaming records with 68 million views, exceeding the highest premiere viewership for Netflix held by the first season of Wednesday at 50.1 million views during its premiere week.^[1] According to Netflix, the season ranked at No. 1 in 92 countries. It garnered positive reviews from critics. A third and final season, which was filmed back-to-back with the second season, was released on June 27, 2025.

[1]

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date ^[2]
10	1	"Bread and Lottery" Transliteration: "Ppanggwa bokgwon" (Korean: 빵과 복권)	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
Seong Gi-hun leaves the terminal^[a] determined to confront the Front Man behind the games. Aware he is being watched, he removes a tracking device implanted behind his ear. Hwang Jun-ho survives his fall from the cliff^[b] after being rescued by Park, a shrimp boat captain. Two years later, Gi-hun lives frugally in a fortified hotel building and has employed his former loan shark, Mr. Kim, and his lackeys to track down the games' recruiter in Seoul. Jun-ho, still working as a police officer, occasionally sails with Park to locate the games' island, but without success. Kim and his associate, Choi Woo-seok, eventually locate the Recruiter and watch him offer vagrants bread or a lottery ticket; most choose the lottery ticket, and the Recruiter destroys the uneaten bread in front of them. Jun-ho investigates Gi-hun after recognizing him. Kim and Woo-seok are abducted by the Recruiter and forced into a deadly game of rock paper scissors combined with Russian roulette, with Kim sacrificing his life to save Woo-seok. Jun-ho locates Gi-hun's base. There, the Recruiter confronts Gi-hun, revealing he once served as a soldier in the games and killed his own father, a player. The Recruiter challenges Gi-hun to a round of Russian roulette, resulting in his own death.
11	2	"Halloween Party" Transliteration: "Hallowin pati" (Korean: 할로윈 파티)	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
Gi-hun, Jun-ho, and Woo-seok follow a lead from the Recruiter to a Halloween party. Woo-seok recruits a group of mercenaries, Gi-hun plants a tracker inside himself, and the three devise a plan to locate the Front Man. Jun-ho keeps secret that the Front Man is his brother, In-ho. Meanwhile, Gi-hun continues to support Sang-woo's mother and Cheol, working with a broker to reunite Cheol with his mother from North Korea, and places a silent call to his estranged daughter. At the party, Gi-hun is escorted by one of the game's pink-clad soldiers into a limousine while the team follows. He confronts the Front Man via speaker, demanding an end to the games, but then requests to re-enter the games as a player after his team's cars were attacked. Meanwhile, Kang No-eul, a North Korean defector seeking to extract her daughter from the North, is recruited by a masked figure and joins the games as a soldier.
12	3	"001"	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
"001 (Squid Game)" redirects here. For the Squid Game characters with the player number 001, see Oh Il-nam and Front Man (Squid Game). Gi-hun wakes in the games' dormitory alongside 455 other players. A manager announces a new clause: after each game, the players may vote on whether to end the games; if the majority agrees, the accumulated prize money will be distributed among them. Jun-ho and his team lose track of the island after Gi-hun's tracker is removed. Gi-hun recognizes Player 390 as his friend and former coworker Jung-bae. The first game is Red Light, Green Light. Gi-hun attempts to expose the game's cruelty, but is initially dismissed by the others. Despite this, Gi-hun's cautions eventually help reduce casualties. Player 230, a retired rapper known as "Thanos" and under the influence of drugs, deliberately pushes others to eliminate them. Gi-hun and Player 120, named Cho Hyun-ju (a transgender woman joining to earn money for gender-affirming surgery and to leave Korea), try to save an eliminated player with a non-lethal gunshot wound, but No-eul executes her anyway. After the game, Gi-hun desperately urges the players to vote to stop the games and reveals he is the sole winner of a previous iteration, but is once again ignored. Players voting to continue are labeled "O", while those voting to leave are labeled "X". In-ho, posing as Player 001, casts the deciding vote to continue the games.
13	4	"Six Legs" Transliteration: "Yeoseot gaeui dari" (Korean: 여섯 개의 다리)	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
In-ho pretends to ally with Gi-hun and fabricates a story, based in truth, about his reason for joining the game. Player 333, Myung-gi, is attacked by Thanos and Player 124, Nam-gyu, but In-ho intervenes and stops the altercation easily. Player 222, Myung-gi's pregnant ex-girlfriend Jun-hee, reveals herself to him. Meanwhile, a group of guards, led by a Masked Officer, begin harvesting organs from the eliminated players to sell them on the black market. The Masked Officer orders No-eul to ignore the activities, but she refuses. Jun-ho attempts to enlist police assistance but is unsuccessful. To Gi-hun's surprise, the second game requires players to form teams of five for a six-legged pentathlon consisting of five traditional children's games: ddakji, biseokchigi, gong-gi, paengi chigi, and jegi, all to be completed within a five-minute time limit. Gi-hun forms a team with In-ho, as well as Jung-bae, Jun-hee, and Player 388, Kang Dae-ho, who quickly bonded with Jung-bae after they found out the two of them were part of the Korean Marines. Hyun-ju starts a team with Player 095, Young-mi, a timid young woman; Player 007, Yong-sik, a chronic gambler who joined to pay off his debts; Player 149, Geum-ja, Yong-sik's mother who also joined to pay off her son's debts; and Player 044, Seon-nyeo, an abrasive and arrogant shaman. Thanos and Nam-gyu also form a team along with Player 256, Gyeong-su, one of Thanos' fans during his rapping career; Player 380, Se-mi; and Player 125, Min-su, a shy and timid man. A team fails to complete the games within the time limit and No-eul notices two workers leaving a player alive after he was shot and executes him, continuing her efforts to sabotage the illegal organ trade.
14	5	"One More Game" Transliteration: "Han pan deo" (Korean: 한 판 더)	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
After Hyun-ju's team manages to win through mutual support, many other teams are inspired and survive. Gi-hun's team survive and the five agree to ally and exchange names after the game, with In-ho calling himself "Oh Young-il". No-eul is attacked by two soldiers involved in the organ trade, warning her not to interfere. During the following vote, In-ho encourages the players to vote against continuing the games, but a larger majority opts to proceed, believing the prize pool remains insufficient. Gi-hun confides in Jung-bae about his growing uncertainty in rescuing everyone. Meanwhile, Jun-ho and Woo-seok, now joined by an expanded mercenary team and Captain Park, continue their search for the island. The third game, titled "Mingle", requires players to form groups based on an announced number and enter designated rooms accordingly.^[c]
15	6	"O X"	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
During "Mingle," players struggle to fit their alliances into rooms, leading to tension, betrayal, and ally deaths. Many players are killed, including Gyeong-su and Young-mi. In the final round, Jung-bae witnesses In-ho kill another player in cold blood to secure a room for themselves. After the game, Gi-hun and In-ho argue over whether to persuade other players to vote to end the games, ultimately deciding against it to avoid a physical fight. During the voting, several players, including Min-su, who has been subservient to Thanos and Nam-gyu, change their votes to "X." The deciding vote falls back to In-ho, resulting in a tie; the players have one day before voting again. In the restroom, Thanos and Nam-gyu pressure Min-su, to change his vote to "O," but Myung-gi and other players who voted "X" step in to defend him. A fight ensues, with Thanos strangling Myung-gi, who fatally stabs him with a fork. Meanwhile, Jun-ho's team locates a possible entrance to an island, only to discover it is a decoy rigged with explosives, killing one of the mercenaries.
16	7	"Friend or Foe" Transliteration: "Chinguwa jeok" (Korean: 친구와 적)	Hwang Dong-hyuk	Hwang Dong-hyuk	December 26, 2024 (2024-12-26)
Captain Park turns out to be a double agent who sabotaged Jun-ho's team's drone and kills its pilot. Following the bathroom fight, the players realize they can kill others to increase the prize pool and weaken the opposing voters. Gi-hun predicts an attack that night by players who want to continue the game, but convinces a small group of "X" players to avoid attacking, arguing that the game's creators are the true enemies. During the anticipated massacre, Gi-hun's group remains hidden while the rest of the group suffers heavy losses, including Se-mi, who is killed by Nam-gyu as Min-su watches in horror. The Xs in Gi-hun's group fake their death in order to be scanned by soldiers emerging only when they arrive. Gi-hun's group provokes the soldiers, killing all but one and taking their firearms. They start a rebellion and force the surviving soldier to guide them to the control room. However, more soldiers open fire along the way, and the rebellion begins to falter as the group runs out of ammunition; Dae-ho, tasked with retrieving more magazines, seemingly suffers an anxiety attack and is unable to return. In-ho betrays the group by killing two players and faking his death, while other players who surrender are executed. Gi-hun and Jung-bae are captured. In-ho, now masked as the Front Man, executes Jung-bae in front of a distraught Gi-hun.

Award ceremony	Year	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
Baeksang Arts Awards	2025	Best Supporting Actor	Roh Jae-won	Nominated	^[97]
Blue Dragon Series Awards	2025	Best Actor	Lee Byung-hun	Nominated	^[98]

Squid Game season 2

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main cast

Special guest stars

Recurring

Guest cast

Production

Development

Writing

Casting

Filming

Music

Marketing

Release

Reception

Critical response

Audience response

Viewership

Accolades

Listicles

Notes

References

External links

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