Squid Game shocked the world with the eye-opening levels of violence featured throughout the twisted series, but according to its creator, we haven't seen anything yet.
Hwang Dong-hyuk was behind the gory scenes that made Squid Game one of Netflix's most popular shows ever, yet according to the filmmaker, the likes of Red Light, Green Light and the world's highest stakes of Tug of War were just a warm up for what he's got planned for his next production.
As well as a second series of Squid Game in the pipeline, Hwang is working on an adaption of Killing Old People Club - a book written by Italian medieval historian Umberto Eco - and promises that the movie is set to be 'more violent than Squid Game.'
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Describing his plans for the film as 'controversial,' Hwang told Variety he's written a 25-page treatment to pitch the film, which is tentatively titled 'KO Club,' presumably to make it a bit more appetising to producers, and joked he might end up having to hide from old people once the film is released.
This news probably won't come as a massive surprise to fans of Korean cinema. Some of the country's most iconic movies, such as Oldboy, Train to Busan and even Parasite, haven't exactly shied away from bloody scenes or shock factor.
Ironically then, Hwang explained that he'd been working on Squid Game for ten years before eventually finding an audience for it, revealing that it was 'too violent' to pitch to traditional Korean networks, as 'investors would have been so worried'.
"When I showed it to my producer, she said 'yeah, you have to make it in the States, like, in a foreign country, not in Korea, because it’s more like a global show,'" he said.
Hwang was speaking following Squid Game's epic run on the awards circuit, where it came away with a Golden Globe, three SAG awards and two Critics Choice Awards.
And perhaps even more impressively, Hwang revealed that he'd received praise for the show from none other than Steven Spielberg himself.
"[He] told me 'I watched your whole show in three days and now I want to steal your brain!,'" Hwang said.
"It was like the biggest compliment I ever got in my life because he’s my film hero. I grew up watching his movies."
But there was also bad news for Squid Game fans, with Hwang confirming that season 2 would likely not be hitting Netflix until 2024.
Topics: TV and Film, Netflix
Hannah Smith