Squid Game, the new South Korean drama that was just released on Netflix two weeks ago, is about to become the streaming platform's most-watched show. Since releasing on September 17, the nine-episode series has become the most-watched show in 90 countries worldwide, leaping to the top of Netflix's top-10 list in mere days in some countries,
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently told an audience at the Code 2021 conference on Monday that Squid Game has "a very good chance it's going to be our biggest show ever," surpassing even Bridgerton’s 82 million views.
"Squid Game will definitely be our biggest non-English language show in the world, for sure," Sarandos added. This would put it ahead of Spanish-language crime thriller Money Heist and French-language crime drama Lupin.
Directed and written by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game tells the story of a group of desperate people who join a survival game show in order to escape crushing poverty, crime, debt, or for their own personal reasons. The games themselves are simple children's games, but the consequence of losing even a single game is death.
Consider Squid Game as a sort of real-life Fall Guys, only the games are much easier at the stakes are much higher.
Out of 456 contestants, the winner will take home 45.6 billion won (or roughly $40 million USD). That’s a lot of money, but the odds of going home alive aren’t great.
However, despite Squid Game's spectacular success, Dong-hyuk refused to commit to a sequel in an interview with Variety. "I don't have well-developed plans for Squid Game 2. It is quite tiring just thinking about it. But if I were to do it, I would certainly not do it alone. I'd consider using a writers' room and would want multiple experienced directors."
Squid Game is streaming now on Netflix.