The game is about to begin again. The teaser trailer for the highly anticipated second season of Squid Game has arrived. Unveiled for the first time at Lucca Comics & Games, Europe’s biggest Comic Con, where tens of thousands of fans gathered for this sneak peek of the new season. Fans were also treated to an in-person appearance by stars Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-jun, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, adding to the excitement.
Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game quickly became a global juggernaut following its debut in 2021. After 12 years in development, it took just 12 days for it to become Netflix’s most popular series ever. Capturing the world’s attention, it dominated the Global Top 10 for nine consecutive weeks — a first for any non-English series — and made history with groundbreaking Emmy wins.
Season 2 raises the stakes, with Lee Jung-jae reprising his role as Seong Gi-hun, also known as Player 456. With a hardened demeanor and the scars of past games, Gi-hun is on a desperate mission to expose the deadly truth of the competition. Yet, his warnings go unheeded, and tensions rise as fellow players question his intentions. The teaser also shows the return of Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man, whose true motivations remain cloaked in secrecy, while Wi Ha-jun’s Hwang Jun-ho is back, driving the narrative forward as the relentless detective on a mission of his own.
There’s no stopping the game — are you ready to play?
Squid Game Season 2 premieres globally on December 26, 2024 only on Netflix.
Upcoming STAR WARS Series THE ACOLYTE is next to come in the fantastical Lucasfilm universe and some casting announcements were made today. The Series already is under production in the UK.
Joining the previously announced Amandla Stenberg (“The Hate U Give”) are Emmy Award-winner Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”), Manny Jacinto (“Nine Perfect Strangers”), Dafne Keen (“His Dark Materials”), Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”), Rebecca Henderson (“Inventing Anna”), Charlie Barnett (“Russian Doll”), Dean-Charles Chapman (“1917”) and Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix”).
“The Acolyte” is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.
From creator, showrunner and executive producer Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll”), “The Acolyte”has begun production in the U.K. The executive producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are producing. Headland will also direct the series pilot.
(Photo credit: Disney)
By David Baldwin
It is the 1980s and The President of South Korea has just had an assassination attempt made on his life. He survived thankfully, but now the KCIA is fiendishly trying to figure out how this could have happened. To make matters worse, somebody codenamed Donglim has apparently been feeding South Korean secrets to the North. Now it is up to Foreign Unit Chief Park Pyong-ho (Emmy-winning Squid Game Actor Lee Jung-jae, also HUNT’s Director and Co-Writer) and Domestic Unit Head Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo-sung, also at the Festival with his directorial debut, A Man of Reason) to smoke-out the rat.
For a feature Directorial debut, HUNT is slick and pulse-pounding. It kicks-off with an elaborate action sequence and foot chase before evolving into a cat and mouse espionage thriller that was constantly reminding me of Infernal Affairs (and its Best Picture Oscar-winning American remake, The Departed). And while Lee and his behind the scenes team manage to inject a number of additional wild and brutal action scenes (and gratuitous torture scenes) peppered throughout the running time, his Script written alongside Jo Seung-hee suffers from a complete lack of narrative coherency. Characters are introduced and then killed-off just as quickly. The few that manage to stay breathing slightly longer have muddled loyalties, and end up double, triple and quadruple crossing each other multiple times. It is a challenge to keep up with it all and I will readily admit that HUNT may benefit immensely from a second watch – one where you can hopefully pause and write everything happening out on a whiteboard.
All of that said, Lee and Jung are both compelling leads who do incredibly well at antagonizing the hell out of each other and the people around them. They each get plenty of time to shine and are crucial elements to the crazy action scenes. The charisma and presence both actors bring to the screen is captivating, and one of the key reasons why I stuck around watching right up until the end. Neither is well characterized, but they do not have to be. They just have to be along for the ride, and well, mission accomplished.
HUNT screens as follows at TIFF ’22:
Thu, Sep 15 IN-PERSON Roy Thomson Hall 9:00pm
Fri, Sep 16 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre 11:30am
Sun, Sep 18 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre 7:30pm
We’ve made it to the finish! What a Festival this was! We’re still reeling literally from all the excitement, and have really been doing as much as we can before the curtain drops Sunday. Though I love the stars so much, I love cozying-up with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte in a dark theatre and just escaping with the Movies. The Team and I have shared our thoughts on everything we saw at the Festival here and there are a few more Reviews coming.
By the way, we will soon be drawing our $25 Starbucks Canada Gift Card winners! More below and a few chances across our Social channels.
#TIFF22: Nothing like a #PSL in the morning at a movie screening! Reply in the comments which @starbuckscanada beverage you’d cozy up to.
— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) September 9, 2022
Tell me here and @ a friend to enter to #win a $25 Starbucks Canada Gift Card!
Happy #TIFF! #win #StarbucksCanada pic.twitter.com/whXY4qmRr4
We were so delighted finally to get to participate in a Press Line. Believe me, we’ve been putting-in our requests but with so many outlets being here earlier in the Festival, it didn’t leave a lot of room for smaller outlets like ours to get on. Either way, we get it and made our moments happen either way! We adore SQUID GAME and can’t wait for Season Two. Such an honour chatting with star-turned-Director Lee Jung-jae and also Korean Action Star Jung Woo-sung. HUNT is an Action-Thriller which has Lee starring as Park, a Central Intelligence Chief uncovering a plot assassinate the South Korean President, but learns there also is a mole in the agency.
Lee tells us this actually isn’t his first time in Toronto – he actually came here about ten years back. We ask him about one important lesson he took away from the character he crafted in this Film, Park.
Lee: I didn’t learn much from the character because I wrote, directed and acted it myself. What I learned from this experience is working harmoniously with the other Actors and trying to communicate well with the staff.
We also ask Jung to tell us a bit about his character Kim and what he took away from the experience.
Jung: This is a character based on actual historical events that took place. When I created the character, I reflected on the victims of the incident and the perpetrators, and the ethical issues. I was able to reflect on these things.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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