Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk may have been wowed during his tour of the Squid Game: The Challenge set, but he also made a secret cameo in the show itself.
Daisy Lilley, director of unscripted series at Netflix in the UK, revealed that Dong-hyuk donned the iconic red uniform of a guard and was on-screen putting on a mask.
Lilley disclosed the easter egg during an Edinburgh TV Festival session, in which Netflix and Squid Game: The Challenge producers, Studio Lambert and The Garden, reflected on the show’s BAFTA-winning success.
On Dong-hyuk’s visit to the set, Lilley said: “I was with him as he walked into the marble set and the look of wonderment on his face. He was so chuffed that it had been built. He was picking things up and was like: ‘I can’t believe you managed to find this.’ It was great to have his blessing.”
Lilley declined to comment on plans for Season 2 of Squid Game: The Challenge, but said filming will get underway early next year. “If I was to tell you much else, I would have to squib you,” she joked, referencing the black ink used on the show to simulate the death of contestants.
Elsewhere during the session, John Hay, CEO of The Garden, looked back on shooting the ‘Red Light, Green Light’ game last year, during which some contestants required medical attention in freezing conditions at the UK’s Cardington Studios.
“It was a cold day and it was a big, complicated shoot, and took a long time because we had to be absolutely scrupulous — with that amount of money on the line and the kind of stakes involved — so that we were judging those decisions correctly,” Hay said. “We prepared them [contestants], we equipped them, and I’m confident we did all the things that we could have done from a contributor welfare and health and safety point of view.”
Lilley added that Netflix has taken “learnings” from Season 1 that will be taken into next year’s shoot. “We will look to implement them across the board,” she said.
The Edinburgh TV Festival‘s Game On… How Squid Game: The Challenge Redefined Reality TV session was chaired by Jesse Whittock, Deadline’s international TV co-editor.
