“Squid Game” fans know that the trumpet’s wake-up call means someone is going to die. Not our hero Gi-hun, but one or more of the players who hope to win a fortune by participating in childish but deadly games. It is at once a thriller and a critique of inequality and greed.

Season 1 was an international blockbuster. With 330 million views, it is the most-watched Netflix series of all time. The film won Emmys for its lead actor Lee Jung-jae and its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Both made history as the first Asian winners in their categories.

We first spoke to Hwang in Korea as he was about to embark on a global promotional tour for the second season.

“So you’re kind of in a good situation now?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘sweet spot,'” Hwang replied.

“Just that things go your way?”

“But it’s not easy. Nothing is easy,” he said. “People keep saying to me, ‘You’re the happiest person in Korea.’ But in my eyes, I’m not so happy that I fight every day and every night.

That’s thanks to a brutal workload: Hwang directed and wrote every episode. “Sunday Morning” was sworn to secrecy and invited to a stage outside Seoul, where much of the second season was filmed.

Hwang was at his best, but it wasn’t always like that. He was only five years old when his father died. After that, he says, his family was trapped in poverty. Hwang said that he was in trouble and in debt as a filmmaker and looked for a way out in comics. “I’ve read a lot about the survival game genre and the gambling genre,” he said. “And that got me thinking: What if I combined childhood games with people putting their lives on the line for a huge cash prize? And that’s how the idea came about.”

And a blockbuster was born.

In the show, desperate participants risk everything for money and are exploited by a sinister game master, the powerful frontman.

When asked if “Squid Game” reflects how he sees capitalists and capitalism in general – a group of desperate people manipulated by a cruel and wealthy elite – Hwang replied: “I think what continues to essentially drive this system , is human egoism and greed. Nowadays.” I’m becoming more and more pessimistic about human nature. I almost believe that for Homo Sapiens it is greed that allows them to create a society in which they feel most comfortable.

Many of the characters in Season 2 are new (Hwang killed so many of them in Season 1), but the guards are back, and so is Gi-hun, who is now on a doomed mission to stop the game.

To watch a trailer for Squid Game: Season 2, click on the video player below:

Hwang said that “Squid Game” seasons 2 and 3 “will show people the reason for this world, the reason for man.”

So it’s getting darker? “Yeah, it’s getting darker and darker, episode by episode,” Hwang said.

The show is so popular that 50,000 people recently applied for the chance to take part in a real (but not deadly) squid game in Paris. The prize: a first look at the new season.

Hwang is amazed, especially by the huge success of his show in the US, where audiences have traditionally not opted for a subtitled TV series: “I was always hoping to make something very popular in the States, so I was surprised,” he said. “At the same time, my dream came true. But this success simply exceeded my expectations.”

Ironically, this creator of a dystopian parable about despair and poverty is now a wealthy man – one of capitalism’s big winners. Did that change him? “Not much,” he said. “It’s definitely made my life better because I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to make money anymore. But since then I don’t think more success or more money has changed me much because it’s just a number.” . It has no meaning to me at all.

What does Making meaning is his job. But the success and pressure of “Squid Game” took its toll: “I’ve been working on this one project, day and night, for more than five years now. I’m so exhausted. I’m so exhausted. “I’m tired of it, you know?” he laughed. “I need a break, I need a break.”

A break from non-stop work… and from his deep dive into the dark depths of human nature.

What makes Hwang Dong-hyuk laugh? “My friends! I love talking and drinking a beer with my friends.”

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The story was produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Joseph Frandino.

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