‘Squid Game’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk reveals inspiration: ‘My story’s about losers’

Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk recently sat down for a chat and addressed his real intentions and motivations behind creating a “story about losers.”

The director addressed it all while interviewing with CNN and during the course of his interview he also went on to detail his reasons for creating such a ‘gruesome’ take on adult life.

He started off by reminiscing over ‘the good old days’ and referenced squid game by claiming, "It was very physically demanding, and so every time we played someone would get injured, have their clothes torn or cry. It would always be the last game of the day."

"Having grown into an adult, the question 'what would it be like to go back and play those childhood games again?' was the start to the creation of the entire series."

Hwang intended for the show to reflect the realities facing the “competitive society” of South Korea and “Is a story about losers.”

The two main characters in the series, Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo, are named after the director’s childhood friends and are each other’s “inner clones.”

"They represent the two sides of me. Like Gi-hun, I was raised by a single mother in a financially troubled environment in Ssangmun-dong," he claimed.

"At the same time, like Sang-woo, I went to Seoul National University and my entire neighbourhood praised me and had high expectations of me."

He also went on to admit, "Writing, producing and directing a series alone was really such a big task,” director Hwang admitted.

“When I think about doing the same for season two, I'm personally kind of worried. There's nothing confirmed at the moment, but so many people are enthusiastic that I'm really contemplating it."