Season 2 of Squid Game is currently in development over at Netflix. But, as if sensing the possibility that it might not be as good as the first one, Netflix is reportedly thinking about remaking the show for American audiences.
According to Jeff Sneider’s The Hot Mic podcast, Netflix has brought on board David Fincher, who made a name for himself with Fight Club and Se7en, to direct an English-language adaptation of Squid Game.
Given Fincher’s history with Netflix, it doesn’t surprise us that the streaming giant trusts him.
Prior to Kevin Spacey’s fall from grace, House of Cards was one of the platform’s finest shows. Since then, Fincher has lent his creative mind to several other noteworthy projects, including but not limited to, Mindhunter, Love, Death & Robots, and Mank.
So, if anyone can bring the Netflix megahit to life, it’s Fincher.
Of course, just because you trusted someone with a long and storied history for award-winning shows, this doesn’t mean that they’ll do good. It’ll be extremely difficult to find a way to take the core competency of Squid Game and make it more palatable to American audiences. Not to mention, one of the biggest reasons why Squid Game was so huge was because it had such an interesting premise, in the first place.
We’re not quite sure that the pop culture phenomenon, which received several award nominations (14 at the Primetime Emmy Awards) and won several awards (headlined by an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Lee Jung-jae) would so as well if Westernized.
The good news is that this is all grapevine talk until Netflix comes forward with an official announcement. Until then, we’re of the notion that Netflix isn’t working on the project. If it’s even thinking about it, it should kill the thought right away.
Squid Game was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that worked well at just the right time. We’re sure Squid Game would’ve blown up if it was released earlier or after but it wouldn’t have become the most popular show ever on Netflix. To remake it for today’s audiences just wouldn’t be the same, and it’s for this very reason why Season 2 might not be as successful as well.
But, hey, we’d be glad to be proven wrong. It’s just that we doubt it’ll work. There’s a difference between releasing a show that nobody expects would be so good and so perfect for the time and a remake of the same show that aims to recapture the same magic that made it so big in the first place. Netflix will be setting itself up for failure if it pushed through with these plans, even if it can bring Fincher into the project.
Squid Game Season 2 is currently in development with either a late 2023 or early 2024 release date in mind.
Also, if you’re looking for a potential glimpse at what an American Squid Game could look like, you can check out Grand Death Lotto. The upcoming film stars John Cena, Awkwafina, and Limu Liu, and will be released exclusively on Prime Video at a later date.
