Netflix has announced a reality show based on the popular South Korean series The Squid Game, which was released in 2021.
The new project will be called Squid Game: The Challenge.
Similar to the dramatic thriller, the game will feature 456 players, according to Variety.
The winner will receive a huge prize - $4.56 million.
Netflix promises that the new project will be the largest of all existing reality shows - it will have the largest number of participants and the largest prize.
"The Squid Game" took the world by storm thanks to the compelling story and iconic visuals created by director Hwang.
(Now. -
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) we are organizing a large-scale competition and social experiment, turning a fictional world into reality, and we are grateful for his support (in this endeavor. -
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), said Brandon Rigg, Netflix vice president for documentaries and series without script.
“Fans of the original series are in for an exciting and unpredictable journey.”
Participants will compete in a series of games inspired by the original series.
Among other things, they are waiting for new tasks designed to test willpower, character and ability to work in a team.
The organizers emphasize that all players will remain unharmed.
Residents of any country can participate in the casting, the main thing is to know English.
To apply, each applicant must shoot a video no longer than one minute.
In it, you need to tell about yourself, as well as why the candidate wants to participate in the project and what he plans to spend the winnings on.
Filming of the show "The Squid Game: Trial" will be held in the UK.
There will be ten episodes in total.
© Shot from the series "The Squid Game" (2021)
The Squid Game premiered in the fall of 2021 and quickly became Netflix's most popular show.
In just 17 days, he gathered 111 million viewers and topped the top in 90 countries.
The Squid Game also became the first series on the video service to surpass 100 million viewers in its first month of release.
“It took 12 years for the first season of The Squid Game to come to life last year, and just 12 days for it to become the most watched series in Netflix history,” director Hwang Dong-hyuk said in a statement.
— As a screenwriter, director and producer of The Squid Game, I want to say a huge thank you to fans around the world.
Thank you for watching and loving our series."
The plot of "The Squid Game" focuses on a competition involving 456 financially struggling players.
They are offered to go through a competition of six children's games.
The winner will receive 45.6 billion won (2.025 billion rubles), but the bet in the game is life.
The protagonist Song Ki Hoon, player #456, decides to participate in order to pay off his debts and maintain a relationship with his daughter.
This test greatly changes his view of life.
The death-game thriller following the release of the series was another step towards establishing itself on the world stage of South Korean cinema, interest in which increased in 2020 after the triumphant victory of the film "Parasite" at the Oscars.
Film critics called the project “a statement on the topic of socio-economic inequality”, and social networks were filled with all kinds of posts and videos in which fans speculated about the next season, discussed the finale, prepared sugar honeycombs, etc.
Popular bloggers staged their “squid games” with a small cash prize and posted it on YouTube, and a cafe dedicated to the popular show even opened in Moscow.
Netflix recently confirmed that a second season will be filmed.
The director of the project said that in the new episodes, viewers will be able to see Song Ki Hoon and the masked main antagonist again.
“A man in a suit with (game. -
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) ttakchi can return,” the director of the series said.
He also noted that in the second season, fans will see Young Hee's boyfriend and a giant animatronic killer doll, which clearly demonstrated to viewers how deadly this game is.
A release date for the new episodes has yet to be announced.
Hwang Dong-hyuk promises that the second season will be released by early 2024.