There’s a simple reason Thanos speaks English in Squid Game Season 2
NetflixThanos is one of the most divisive characters in Squid Game Season 2. Some viewers love him, while others can’t stand him – and lots of people have been left wondering why he speaks English.
Compared to the other players in Squid Game, he’s easily the most eccentric contestant; he has purple hair, his nails are painted like the Infinity Stones, and while everyone shudders in fear at the games, he’s often prancing around high on whatever drugs were inside his necklace.
Notably, he alternates between Korean and (often hilarious) English. For example, when he meets Player 125, he says, “What’s up, nice to meet you my brother, welcome to the Thanos world.” When he raps, some of his lyrics also include English words.
Why Thanos speaks English in Squid Game
NetflixThanos speaks English in Squid Game Season 2 because it’s common for Korean rappers and K-hip-hop artists to integrate English lyrics into their songs.
For example, Gaeko’s ‘Smoke’ opens with the line, “Light it up,” and features other bursts of English like, “I’m a south side baddie, collect all these veggies” and “Man, I can’t curse to you ’cause you already die for it.”
‘RRR’ by Loopy also has a lengthy section where he raps, “Turn off the f**kin’ phone, now we get it” repeatedly. RM (formerly Rap Monster) also raps with English lyrics in his songs; ‘Wild Flower’ opens with “Flower field, that’s where I’m at” and ‘Come Back to Me’ is almost entirely in English.
It’s also common in K-dramas for characters to randomly speak English from time to time. Even in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, one character says, “I’m deadly serious.”
As one Redditor pointed out, “Unlike in other K-dramas, the writers here intentionally wrote a character that closely resembles a lot of wannabe SK rappers who love spitting out some of the stupidest sh*t in English.
“If you listened to K-hip-hop, you’d know what I’m talking about. I found it cool that he portrayed the character exactly how the writers wanted him to.”
Also, “not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but T.O.P. (the actor – from the K-pop group Bigbang) is fluent in English. They probably wanted to humor a Western audience since Bigbang already has a pretty big international fan base,” another user wrote.
Sprinkling another language into your lexicon is common in other countries; I definitely say, “Guten tag” and “danke schön” occasionally, and this isn’t that different.
Squid Game Season 3 is set to drop at some point in 2025. Read our predictions for the third season, find out why Hyun-ju isn’t played by a trans woman, and if you should watch Season 2 subtitled or dubbed.
You can also read our list of the best TV shows of 2024 and best movies of the year.