Squid Game has now come to an end with Netflix four years and three seasons after it made its debut, but it already makes no sense with how it’s approaching its American version so far. Squid Game as a franchise has been such a massive hit with Netflix that the only one who was really surprised to see it picked up for more seasons after the debut was its original creator. Although Hwang Dong-hyuk on multiple occasions revealed how tough it was just to make the original story happen, there’s been so much demand for Squid Game to continue with or without him.
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Squid Game has gone far beyond its original first season to release two more seasons with Netflix, a reality game show competition, multiple video game cameos, and much more in the years since its debut. It also seems like an English language version of Squid Game is now in the works as following reports of a new series from David Fincher, a massive cameo in Squid Game‘s final season has sparked an new wave of American games. But it already got off to a very weird start with how it’s doing things.
Squid Game Might Not Work in America
In the final episode of Squid Game Season 3, it’s revealed that a recruiter (complete with a wild Hollywood star cameo) is playing the same Ddakji game with a person in Los Angeles that Seong Hi-Hun and the others played all those years ago. This has not been fully confirmed to be a tie in to the eventual English language version of the series now in the works, but it’s the best start to the American spinoff yet. But at the same time, this is a weird place to come from as it’s not a game that’s really played in the United States. So it’d be weird for the recruiter to use the same game to draw people in.
Part of the appeal of Squid Game itself is the fact it takes Korean children’s games and turns them into deadly fights for your life. It’s the juxtaposition of young innocence clashing with the harsh realities of adult life, and in that way the Korean drama series has been able to reach a worldwide audience. But although its themes draw upon the humanity of any kind of viewer, there’s still a very wide cultural divide in the games seen in Squid Game itself. Even its title is a game that not many American kids have ever played. So an English language version will need to adapt it to more Western sensibilities in order to stand out further from the original.
Will There Be An American Squid Game?
Reports of an English language version of Squid Game have been sprouting for the last couple of years, but seemed to reach a new level of potentially happening last Fall when it was reported that David Fincher (Gone Girl, Fight Club) was slated to begin working on the American version of the series as soon as this year. It’s yet to be fully confirmed to be in the works, but even original franchise creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has noted how the franchise is likely going to continue following the end of Gi-Hun’s story. This is likely one of those ways.
But much of the appeal of Squid Game will be lost when it’s adapted for an English language audience. The culture of the show is going to change, and much of its symbolism and visual presentations will need to change in order to account for the shift in players. Characters will need to be familiar with the games present in the new series, which means that the central “Squid Game” motif itself can’t even really be a factor in the new one. While some kids might have played these games, it’s just not a universally shared thing in America.
Much like how Squid Game: The Challenge (which is still in the works on Season 2) had to adapt many of the games to be less deadly, it also made changes to the games present to better fit an American audience. The reality show used board games like Battleship and chance games like Rock, Paper, Scissors, and that’s likely going to be the case for this new version as well. Which goes back around to highlighting that Ddakji is an odd game for the recruiter to play with an American player. It’s just not something that American would be familiar with enough to agree to play for any kind of money.
Unfortunately while this means that an American remake of Squid Game would lose what makes the original so special in all of these changes for a new culture, that’s kind of the risk they’re taking with that endeavor in the first place.
