Squid Game has a younger Season 2 cast for a heartbreaking reason

Fans of Squid Game Season 1 may have noticed that Season 2 boasts a younger generation of doomed players relative to the first season’s cast. As it turns out, there’s a great (but tragic) reason for the pivot.

Season 1 saw Seong Gi-hun/Player 456 (portrayed by Lee Jung-jae) play deadly games against a host of other competitors of wildly different ages, with Kang Sae-byeok/Player 067 emerging as one of the season’s youngest main cast members.

This season sees Seong Gi-hun’s return, but alongside a younger skewing talented cast.

A new interview with series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk reveals that the change, like so much of the series, was planned for a precise reason intended to illustrate brand new tragic realities of the modern capitalist landscape.

Squid Game Season 2 cast needed to be younger to capture newer trends

Squid Game Season 2’s cast needed to be younger in order to capture new trends in debt and desperation for younger generations than were highlighted in Season 1.

Netflix

According to an interview with The Wrap, Hwang explained that “there are a lot of younger generations who are already neck deep in debt.” Season 2 highlights the impact of newer factors like cryptocurrency in creating indebted desperation, evidenced by Season 2 breakout character Thanos.

It’s a change that’s had a major impact on the games themselves over Season 1. “Because [this season’s players] are younger, it led to the increase of diversity within the games and also a sense of wildness,” Hwang continued. “They have a lot of adrenaline and energy. This took the craziness of the games to another level.”

The series’ pathbreaking first season centered on various different reasons why characters caught in debt might risk their lives to escape it, addressing Seong Gi-hun’s gambling addiction, Cho Sang-woo’s failed business, Kang Sae-byeok’s need to reunite her family, or Han Mi-nyeo’s various financial debts. It isn’t clear what we’ll see in Squid Game Season 3 and beyond, but you can check out our predictions.