If, like me, you were fully adsorbed by Netflix's first season of Squid Game then, no doubt, you'll be just as thrilled that the Korean-language show is set to return before the year is out.
The original show, released in 2021 – at which time it became the streamer's most-watched programme, setting records and, later, even winning a Golden Globe – depicted 456 'players', who had entered the gameshow of their lives – quite literally, as each game unfolded as being a fight to stay alive, with the final victor taking home a giant cash prize.
With the second Squid Game 2 teaser trailer now revealed for all to see – you can (and should) watch it above – I've been mulling over its contents and pondering what nuggets of information, nods to the previous season, and easter eggs there are to be enjoyed. Here's what I make of it:
1. Invention No.8
The Squid Game 2 teaser kicks off with the unnamed 'salesman', played by the basically ageless Gong Yoo, who reprises his role from the first season, preparing to implement the steps for the next game.
He puts on a vinyl record, which plays Bach's Invention No.8 in F Major. A small but savvy nod to this being the eighth step in the sequence, as the first season of Squid Game showed us:
- 1. Recruitment
- 2. Red Light, Green Light
- 3. Sugar Honeycombs
- 4. Tug of War
- 5. Marbles
- 6. Hopscotch
- 7. Squid Game
Step eight, therefore, is for the recruitment process to begin once again, before a series of (presumably) new games plays out in season 2.
The F Major aspect of Bach's composition is also of importance: as that key scale is said to bring feelings of complaisance – i.e. the desire to please others, here diligently depicted by the salesman.
Yet there are moments of dissonance and unease when the salesman opens the safe, which gives a feeling of unease and likely represents an echo of what to expect in the second season.
2. 010034
Spot the code the salesman uses to open the safe? In Squid Game season one many viewers were trying to determine if the 010-034 code – as seen on his now infamous business card – had any grander meaning.
Various online threads concluded that it was just people overreaching – but, nonetheless, I enjoy the nod that it returns to be seen here. Maybe it will be of some future key importance?
There's no reference to players 010 or 034 being of significant importance in season one either, as both died in the Tug of War game round. So it's nothing to do with that.
As a hex-based colour reference '010034' will give you a Prussian Blue, though, and while that's supposed to have a "grounding energy", well, now I'm just going down a rabbit holes...
3. Mind The Gap
While the salesman is very sharp and particular in his actions, I love this Quentin Tarantino-style close-up of his shoe as he steps into the elevator – the way he steps across the gap, to me, seems like a subtle imperfection to juxtapose everything else about his character.
I also take reference to the previous season from this, where the physical gaps in so many games – from Tug of War to Hopscotch – were of such significant life-and-death importance.
Could such a fleeting scene in this trailer be a precursor to more of the same? We don't know anything about Squid Game 2's actual games just yet, so we'll have to wait and see what's in store. But I'd hazard a guess that players plummeting to their deaths won't be too far-fetched an expectation...
4. World Cup Stadium
Speaking of 'Mind the Gap' – an expression any Londoner or visitor to the capital city's Tube line will surely recognise – the salesman then ends up at a South Korean subway station. What a nice segue.
I could also make out the sign in the background, which shows it's the network's 'World Cup Stadium station' (월드컵경기장역). I'm taking that very literally here, of course, but it's a fun nod to this Squid Game 2 indeed being another game of epic scale – with the eyes of the world watching.
It does make me wonder if there'll be any wider play beyond the South Korea setting, however, with the notion of 'World' of course encapsulating the globe's varying nations.
And let's not forget, Squid Game season one's key protagonist, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), learned that his daughter emigrated to the USA during the original games – so there's still some potential for wider international settings in season two.
5. Timing is everything
There's a repeated motif in this trailer: time. Be that the salesman's watch or the clock on his apartment's wall, it highlights the fleeting nature of it, but also the undeniable importance it will have in the nature of the games themselves.
I find the rising tick-tock in the trailer to also add tension, like a heartbeat (also a symbol of life). But, in the same breath, like a murmuring heartbeat there's a subtle imperfection to that timing which creates yet further unease.
Time is relevant in another key way too: 26 December 2024 is the date when Squid Game season 2 will air. There's no further detail whether it'll be all episodes at once, a two-part release schedule, or a weekly release. But with that Boxing Day date scheduled in the diary, it's going to be one hell of an unusual holiday period... but I can't wait for it!