‘Squid Game’: Oh Young-soo Explains Il-nam’s Double Persona: ‘A Matter of That Level of Evilness Inside You’

South Korean veteran actor Oh Young-soo gained notable fame thanks to his role in Squid Game. The actor has been on screen for the majority of his life, with multiple accolades in his career. But Oh captured the hearts of global fans because of his role as Player 001, Il-nam in Squid Game. The sweet and unassuming old man proved to be diabolical. Oh explains how Il-nam portrayed good and evil.

Player 001 proved to be one of the K-drama’s antagonists

While the clues to the cliffhangers were there from the start, no one suspected Player 001 to be a bad guy. Out of 456 players, Il-nam was the oldest and most frail. And unlike other players, Seong GI-hun appealed to the moral part of himself and aided Il-nam throughout the Games. The most fans know about Il-nam is that he has cancer and is on his way to death.

As Squid Game progressed, the relationship between Il-nam and Gi-hun tugged at heartstrings. In the marbles game, Il-nam sacrificed himself to allow Gi-hun to move on. But the shocking twist came in the K-drama’s finale when a winning Gi-hun meets with a dying Il-nam.

He learns the ordinary old man is anything but and one of the creators of the Games. Il-nam used his power and money for his amusement. He joined the Games because he had grown bored of being a spectator and wanted to experience youthfulness before his death. The reveal gutted fans because it felt Il-nam’s story with Gi-hun was a lie.

Il-nam dies being proven that there is still good in humanity when people call for help to save a cold homeless man. Actor Oh Young-soo explains how he resonated with Il-nam despite being a villain.

Oh Young-soo did not see Il-nam as strikingly different from him in ‘Squid Game’

In an interview with Discussing Film, actor Oh breaks down how he worked through playing his character. Squid Game focuses on the many facets of humanity, good versus evil, how far people are willing to go, and capitalism. While actor Oh had to play two different versions of his character, he saw them as one entity and not so different from himself.

“You talked about how Il-nam could be just two totally different people, but I think everyone has both of them inside them. Inside of me, Oh Young-soo, there’s the good part and the evil part and it’s just a matter of that level of evilness inside you but everyone has, you know, some kind of evil inside them,” explained Oh.

Surprisingly, Oh found Il-nam’s multiple emotions and persona the easy part of Squid Game. “Sometimes I portray him as someone who has a stroke, or someone who could be evil. So because of this diversity, that actually made my job easier,” explained Oh. The actor’s answer applies to Hwang’s overall message of good and evil existing simultaneously but appearing depending on the situation.

Will Il-nam return for ‘Squid Game’ Season 2?

Director Hwang keeps the storyline for Squid Game Season 2 a secret. While he has admitted to working on the script, he has told fans it will continue Gi-hun’s story after the first season’s finale. This time, Gi-hun goes through a change. He works to unearth the Games’ creators and its history and take them down for good.

While the second season will bring back Gi-hun and the Front Man, could Il-nam return? The character himself is dead, but he might reappear in flashbacks as Gi-hun learns more about the Games.

Actor Oh explains that Il-nam has left an impression on Gi-hun that will carry him into Squid Game Season 2. “I believe Oh Il-nam now will be deep in the consciousness of Seong Gi-hun. And I think Gi-hun made some personal growth due to Il-nam. I think that’s going to impact how he views life, and how he makes relationships with other people in Season 2,” said the actor.

He explains that while external factors changed Gi-hun’s actions, the second season will instead have Gi-hun look within himself.