“We were sleep-deprived, under pressure, and every day felt like elimination,” joked actor Kang Ha-neul, who plays a conflicted debt collector. “Director Hwang would call ‘cut’ and we’d all laugh nervously because it felt too real.” Composer Jung Jae-il returned to score Season 2, but with a darker, more fractured sound. He replaced some of the whimsical children’s song motifs with industrial percussion and distorted classical strings. The iconic “Way Back Then” theme is now heard only in fragments, symbolizing Gi-hun’s shattered innocence.
As for the ending—Hwang Dong-hyuk has remained famously tight-lipped. Early test screenings reportedly received content warnings for “extreme psychological violence.” What is known is that Season 2 ends on a cliffhanger that leads directly into a third and final season, which was filmed simultaneously to avoid another three-year wait. Squid Game – Season 2 is not just a continuation; it is a commentary on the nature of sequels themselves—the greed, the pressure, and the question of whether you can ever truly go back to the game. For Hwang, the making of this season was a battle against his own creation. Squid Game- Making Season 2
Filming for Season 2 officially began in July 2023, after a lengthy pre-production phase that involved re-engineering the iconic sets and designing new games. Unlike Season 1, which was shot on a relatively modest budget, Season 2 received a blank check from Netflix, but with that came the challenge of meeting astronomical expectations. Production designer Chae Kyoung-sun returned to recreate the eerie, pastel-colored dormitory and the sprawling island complex. But Season 2 demanded new arenas. Leaked set photos and official teasers revealed a giant carousel, a multi-level "rainbow track" with unknown traps, and a terrifying new doll—Cheol-su, the boyfriend of the first season’s Red Light, Green Light doll, Young-hee. “We were sleep-deprived, under pressure, and every day
“I realized that Gi-hun’s journey is not about revenge, but about exposure,” Hwang explained in a behind-the-scenes feature. “Season 2 asks: what happens when one person knows the truth and decides to tear the system down from the outside?” The iconic “Way Back Then” theme is now
The production team built five new game sets from scratch, each requiring months of safety testing. Because the show’s signature is practical, visceral effects, the crew used minimal CGI for the deaths. Instead, they employed squibs, hydraulic traps, and hidden air cannons to achieve the bloody, shocking realism that made the first season so gripping. Lee Jung-jae returned as Gi-hun, but this time, his character is no longer the naive gambler. To prepare, Lee spent months training in tactical combat and firearms handling, as Gi-hun’s arc shifts from player to infiltrator. Alongside him, Lee Byung-hun reprised his role as the Front Man, whose backstory is explored in flashback-heavy sequences shot on a separate soundstage.
The season premiered on Netflix in December 2024, breaking its own records within the first weekend. Love it or hate it, one thing is certain: the making of Squid Game Season 2 was, in every sense, a game of survival.