Squid Game (Korean: 오징어 게임; RR: Ojing-eo Geim) is a South Korean survival drama Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, it stars Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung.
SYNOPSIS
The series revolves around a contest in which 456 players, all drawn from different walks of life but each deeply in debt, play a series of children’s games with deadly penalties if they lose for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion prize.
Seong Gi-hun, a divorced and indebted chauffeur, is invited to play a series of children’s games for a chance at a large cash prize. Accepting the offer, he is taken to an unknown location where he finds himself among 455 other players who are also deeply in debt.
The players are made to wear green tracksuits and are kept under watch at all times by masked guards in pink jumpsuits, with the games overseen by the Front Man, who wears a black mask and black uniform.
The players soon discover that losing a game results in their death, with each death adding ₩100 million to the potential ₩45.6 billion grand prize.Gi-hun allies with other players, including his childhood friend Cho Sang-woo, to try to survive the physical and psychological twists of the games.
MAIN CAST
- Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun , a chauffeur and a gambling addict, he lives with his mother and struggles to support his daughter financially. He participates in the Game to settle his many debts and to prove himself to be financially stable to get the custody of his daughter before she leaves for the US.
- Park Hae-soo as Cho Sang-woo, the head of the investment team at a securities company, he is junior to Gi-hun and was a gifted student who studied at Seoul National University, but is now wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients. He was under billions of debt and even mortgaged off his mother’s place.
- Wi Ha-joon as Hwang Jun-ho, a police officer who sneaks into the Game as a guard to find his missing brother.
- Jung Ho-yeon as Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector who enters the Game to pay for a broker to find and retrieve her surviving family members who are still across the border. She wants to live in a house with her younger brother and mother.
- O Yeong-su as Oh Il-nam, an elderly man with a brain tumor who prefers playing the Game as opposed to waiting to die in the outside world.
- Heo Sung-tae as Jang Deok-su, a gangster who enters the Game to settle his massive gambling debts.
- Anupam Tripathi as Abdul Ali, a foreign worker from Pakistan, who enters the Game to provide for his young family after his employer refuses to pay him for months.
- Kim Joo-ryoung as Han Mi-nyeo, a mysterious and manipulative woman who claims to be a poor single mother.
Supporting cast
Game participants
- Yoo Sung-joo as Byeong-gi (111), a doctor who secretly works with a group of corrupt guards to traffic the organs of dead participants in exchange for information on upcoming games.
- Lee Yoo-mi as Ji-yeong (240), a young woman who was just released from prison after killing her abusive father.
- Kim Si-hyun as Player 244, a pastor who rediscovers his faith during the Game.
- Lee Sang-hee as Player 017, a glass-maker with more than 30 years’ experience.
- Kim Yun-tae as Player 069, a player who joins the Game with his wife, Player 070.
- Lee Ji-ha as Player 070, a player who joins the Game with her husband, Player 069.
- Kwak Ja-hyoung as Player 278, a player who joins Deok-su’s group and acts as his henchman.
- Chris Chan as Player 276, a player who joins Seong Gi-hun’s group in the Tug of War round.
Others
- Kim Young-ok as Gi-hun’s mother
- Cho Ah-in as Seong Ga-yeong, Gi-hun’s daughter
- Kang Mal-geum as Gi-hun’s ex-wife and Ga-yeong’s mother
- Park Hye-jin as Sang-woo’s mother
- Park Si-wan as Kang Cheol, Sae-byeok’s younger brother
Special appearances
- Gong Yoo as a salesman who recruits participants for the Game (Episodes 1 and 9)
- Lee Byung-hun as The Front Man / Hwang In-ho (Episodes 8–9)
- Lee Jung-jun as Guard (Episode 3
- Geoffrey Giuliano as VIP #4 (Episode 7)
English dub cast
- Greg Chun as Seong Gi-hun
- Stephen Fu as Cho Sang-woo
- Paul Nakauchi as Jang Deok-su
- Hideo Kimura as Oh Il-nam
- Vivian Lu as Kang Sae-byeok
- Rama Vallury as Abdul Ali
- Tom Choi as Front Man
- Donald Chang as Hwang Jun-ho
- Stephanie Komure as Han Mi-nyeo
- Yuuki Luna as Ji-yeong
EPISODES
EPISODE ONE
Seong Gi-hun is down on his luck, having accumulated enormous debts with loan sharks while becoming estranged from his daughter and ex-wife. At a train station, he is asked by a well-dressed man to play a game of ddakji for money. The man gives Gi-hun a card, inviting him to play games with higher stakes.
Gi-hun accepts, is knocked unconscious, and taken to a mysterious location with 455 other players who awaken in a dormitory and are identified by numbers on their tracksuits. The location is managed by masked staff in pink jumpsuits and overseen by the Front Man, masked and dressed in black.
The players are all in dire financial straits and will be given billions of won in prize money if they win six games over six days. Gi-hun befriends Player 001, an elderly man suffering from a brain tumor, and recognizes among the players Cho Sang-woo, a former classmate and businessman, and Player 067, a pickpocket who stole his money after winning a horse race bet.
The first game is Red Light, Green Light, where those who lose are killed on the spot, revealing the sadistic nature of the games. Gi-hun is saved from falling by Player 199, a Pakistani foreign worker, and is able to complete the game.
EPISODE TWO
More than half of the players are killed in the first game, and a few horrified survivors beg to leave. According to the third clause of the game’s agreement, if the majority vote to end the games, all players will be sent home but no money will be given.
The players vote, and Player 001’s deciding vote has all of them sent home safely. Gi-hun goes to the police but no one believes him except Detective Hwang Jun-ho, whose missing brother received the same invitation card as Gi-hun.
All players are given the chance to return to the games and many do so due to desperation, including Gi-hun, whose mother needs surgery; Sang-woo, who is about to be arrested for financial fraud; Player 001, who does not wish to die on the outside; Player 067, who wishes to exfiltrate her parents from North Korea and get her little brother out of an orphanage.
Player 199, who attacked and gravely wounded his boss for withholding his wages for months; and Player 101 (real name Jang Deok-su), a gangster on the run from gambling debts. Jun-ho secretly follows Gi-hun when he is picked up by the game staff
EPISODE THREE
Jun-ho successfully infiltrates the games by disguising himself as a masked worker, and it is revealed that the location is a remote island. The players are now more prepared and start forming alliances.
Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Player 001, and Player 199 team up. In the second game, the players are to pick a stamped shape out of a dalgona. Sang-woo recognizes the game after learning about it from Player 067, but does not warn his teammates and chooses the simplest shape for himself. Gi-hun ends up picking the most difficult shape, an umbrella, but is able to complete the game by licking the honeycomb to melt it.
Player 212, a rowdy and manipulative woman, helps Deok-su complete the game with a smuggled lighter. A scared player takes a staff member hostage and forces him to unmask himself. Shocked that the staff member is only a young man, the player kills himself and the staff member is killed by the Front Man for revealing his identity.
EPISODE FOUR
Player 111, a disgraced doctor, secretly works with a handful of staff to harvest organs from dead players to sell on the black market in return for information on upcoming games. Gi-hun realizes that Sang-woo could have helped their team in the dalgona game but remains quiet.
The staff foment discord among the players to weed out the weak ones. Deok-su kills another player over food, which results in the prize money being increased. After lights out, a riot erupts and more players are killed. Player 067 joins Gi-hun’s team, who protect her from Deok-su’s gang.
When Player 001 begs everyone to stop, the Front Man ends the riot. Gi-hun’s team exchange names to build trust: Player 199 is Ali Abdul, and Player 067 is Kang Sae-byeok. Player 001, due to his brain tumor, has trouble remembering his name. In the bathroom, Player 212 (real name Han Mi-nyeo) has sex with Deok-su in exchange for protection.