Squid Game becomes Netflix’s biggest series launch ever

Unless you’ve been hiding under a dalgona, you’ve likely heard of Squid Game. The South Korean Netflix drama revolves around a group of indebted individuals who are invited to play a series of children’s games for the chance at a life-changing cash prize. However, those involved soon discover that the games are exceptionally deadly, which forces the players to split into teams in order to survive the physical and psychological twists of the games.

Netflix revealed today that Squid Game has become their biggest series launch ever with 111 million viewers in its first month on the streaming platform.

The 111 million viewers of Squid Game more than bests the previous Netflix record, which was held by Bridgerton. That series was seen by 82 millions viewers, and although Squid Game has stolen the spotlight for now, it’s possible that the upcoming second season of Bridgerton might just give it a run for its money. As usual, Netflix counts anyone who views at least two minutes of any episode as an official view.

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who also wrote and directed every episodes, first developed the concept back in 2008, but Korean studios turned down the project time and time again. Given the popularity of the series, you might imagine that Netflix is hungry for a sequel, but Hwang Dong-hyuk doesn’t have any plans on more… at least for now. “I don’t have well developed plans for ‘Squid Game 2.’ It is quite tiring just thinking about it,” Dong-hyuk said. “But if I were to do it, I would certainly not do it alone. I’d consider using a writers’ room and would want multiple experienced directors.” I’m only half-way through Squid Game at the moment, but I’m quite enjoying it. What are your thoughts on Squid Game?

You can check out a review of Squid Game from our own Matt Rooney right here.