The second season of Netflix’s 2021 hit series "Squid Game" is just over a month away. The hit show's next outing promises a grander scale, visualizing its complex tension through colorful and playful-looking sets as the expanded narrative transforms into something far greater than just a fight for money.

The new season, scheduled to be released on Dec. 26, started filming in July last year. The show's director Hwang Dong-hyuk invited local reporters to the film set in Daejeon in December last year and revealed parts of the set. These included the show's mazelike staircase and its massive dormitory. But he made sure the show's story was kept secret for almost a year.


In the new season, social conflicts that are often seen in real life will be carved into its stories as a central theme, ignited by a newly modified rule — the OX voting system by which contestants can vote on whether to end the game or not, according to the director. This time, the vote will occur after every round, unlike in season one, where it was only held after the first round.

“People are really taking sides a lot these days,” director Hwang said. “In season two, we incorporated an election system and the use of O and X symbols to emphasize the theme of ‘distinguishing between one another.’ It's a satirical element reflecting the trend of taking sides — one of the key themes in season two.”

The players’ decisions “divide them into groups, creating factions within them,” which in turn leads to further conflicts and tension, according to director Hwang.

In the new season, the director aimed to visualize those conflicts through various props, including the dormitory set, where the vote mainly occurs, and the characters’ costumes.

The art director of the show, Chae Kyung-sun, also revealed to reporters that much thought was put into visualizing the characters’ decisions as well as considering ways to add meaningful details, while not drastically altering the well-known settings.

A detail she added was the O and X markings on the floor using light, instead of the initial proposal to paint the O and X markings on the floor with neon-colored paint.

“As the storyline in this season centers around Gi-hun's revenge journey, the overall lighting was designed with a darker lighting scheme,” Chae said. “Against this dim lighting, I tried to make the illuminated O and X markings stand out, visually highlighting a sense of contrast.”

“Also, I selected the colors red and blue, as I believed the contrast between the two colors symbolized and represented the ideological differences that exist in Korea and around the world,” she added.

Both sets — the staircase and dormitory — became grander in size, especially the maze, and more corridors were added to give more liveliness to the characters.

“We tried to add more spaciousness and movement, which were some points that felt unfulfilled in the previous season,” Chae said. “So, we added some more corridors and elevated their heights to 11 meters [36 feet].”

The staircase corridors, which are the passageways to each game location, are mainly hued with a bright pink color, which became one of the series' representative colors.

“When we were developing the overall concept for the art, we spent a lot of time discussing what colors might represent a childlike, innocent sense of wonder,” Chae said. “Ultimately, we chose pink as the primary color, and it became the dominant hue throughout the space.”

The art director also emphasized the corridors as not only simply being a pathway, but an area that contains numerous characters’ narratives and relationships.

“This time, various conflicts, relationships and the complex and multidimensional emotions of the characters will be shown in the show,” Chae said. “The corridors will be a place where the tension, confrontations and events unfold while the players move through them, going up and down.”


BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]