'Squid Game' Season 2 is now Netflix's biggest TV debut
The second season of Netflix's Squid Game is now the streaming giant's biggest television debut.
Variety reported that Squid Game Season 2 had 68 million views during its premiere week, beating Wednesday's 50.1 million views record in 2022.
The season also placed 7th on Netflix's list of most popular non-English television titles of all time. The list is based on the titles' first 91 days of viewership.
Squid Game's first season is on top of the list with 265.2 million views.
Its sequel series' release also sparked renewed interest in the first season, making the latter the third non-English series of the week with 8.1 million views.
On Jan. 1, Netflix dropped a poster for season 3, which it said is coming this 2025. It featured Yong-Hee, the giant animatronic doll in the Red Light, Green Light game, with another doll called Chul-su, which was teased in the post-credit scene of season 2.
The series' creator Hwang Dong-hyuk earlier told Variety that season 3 may come in the summer or fall of the new year.
To date, Squid Game 1 is the most watched show on Netflix with over 1.65 billion hours watched in its first 28 days. It also received four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, including a historic outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.
Additionally, it earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Best Drama, the first for a non-English television show.
Squid Game follows the story of 456 individuals buried in financial debt, playing a series of thrilling, deadly games. Only one winner would bring home the jackpot prize of 45.6 billion Korean won (P2 billion). It became Netflix's most-watched series and the most-watched show in 94 countries, getting over 142 million member households and 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks of release.
In Season 2, Seong Gi-hun or Player 456 (Lee Jung Hae) joins the deadly games again after winning the last season in a bid to save other players from harm. Original cast members joining Lee include Lee Byung Hun (The Frontman), Wi Ha-jun (police detective Hwang Jun-ho), and Gong Yoo (The Salesman). New players completing the cast are Korean actors Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Jo Yu-ri, Yang Dong-geun, Park Sung-hoon, Kang Ae-sim, and Choi Seung-hyun or T.O.P. of the K-pop group BigBang.
Squid Game 2 premiered on Dec. 26.
