‘Squid Game: The Challenge’: Fans See the Irony of Netflix Creating a Reality Series
Squid Game takes the next big step in global fame – this time with a reality survival series. No, the series will not kill off 465 players like the infamous K-drama. Fans can soon partake in a similar version of the Games, much like MrBeats’s viral Youtube video. Squid Game: The Challenge will feature new and familiar childhood games and the same high stakes as the K-drama. But fans feel the series itself breaks away from the K-drama’s overall message.
Fans of ‘Squid Game’ K-drama can win the same extravagant grand prize – as long as they survive
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix announced Squid Game would become a reality survival series. For many, the news was oncoming due to the massive success of the K-drama and its storyline perfect for a reality series.
Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP unscripted and documentary series, announced Squid Game captivated audiences with Hwang Don-hyuk’s imagery and story. “We’re grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this massive competition and social experiment. Fans of the drama series are in for a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real-world contestants navigate the biggest competition series ever, full of tension and twists, with the biggest-ever cash prize at the end,” said Riegg.
Squid Game: The Challenge will follow a similar format with 456 players trying to survive childhood games. But the challenges will have tweaks and changes to keep the players on their toes. The competition will have a total of 10 episodes but is unclear of the duration of the challenges themselves.
For the Squid Game reality series, Netflix has opened an online website where fans can apply. The Squid Game Casting site is divided into three categories. Fans choose between US casting, UK casting, and Global Casting.
‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ breaks away from the K-drama’s capitalist message
The announcement of Squid Game: The Challenge has fans seeing the dark side. On the official Youtube announcement video, a fan commented, “You’re telling me the day after the economy is officially in a recession, inflation is at a 40 year high and gas is over $5 a gallon, you want to announce casting for a real-life Squid Game? Great timing, actually. These are peak dystopian times we’re living in.”
Many fans cannot help but see the irony in Netflix developing the reality series with one fan saying, “I literally cannot express just how ironic Netflix being a huge corporate entity & making the general public play Squid Game for everyone’s entertainment is.”
Another fan commented, “Tell me you didnt understand the theme of Squid Game without telling me you didnt understand the theme of Squid Game.” Fans of the Squid Game feel Netflix has pushed aside Hwang’s initial reasoning for the K-drama and it message about wealth, the elite, and corporate.
The K-drama focuses on 456 players with nothing to loose
The catch of Squid Game is that the players joined the Games unaware of the quantity of the grand prize. Regardless, like Gi-hun, they were in debt, had criminal records, and had nothing else left. Once entering the Games, the brutality of the “Red Light, Green Light Game” swayed some players, but the cash prize was too enticing.
Throughout the K-drama, the storyline portrayed a broken capitalist society where players are willing to risk their lives and betray others for the chance to win blood money. They would rather face death than the reality of their dark lives unable to find a job, make money, and more.
But Hwang’s Squid Game also showed the power play of society between the poor and elite. The Games were created by rich individuals who have grown bored with their lives and saw the poor as a way of entertainment. Hence the K-drama twist with Il-nam and the VIP guests.
Squid Game: The Challenge will begin filming in 2023.
