‘When we researched in Korea, there are close to no actors that are openly trans’

When Netflix released a video earlier this month introducing the new cast ofSquid Game Season 2, many fans took to social media to share their concerns about the casting of one particular character. In the upcoming chapter of the Korean thriller series, Hyun-ju is a transgender woman described as having entered the game because she’s “short on money for her gender-affirming surgery.” The decision to cast actor Park Sung-hoon, a cis man, instead of a trans woman to play Hyun-ju has prompted criticism online. Creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk said he expected this kind of response.

“I did anticipate such discussions to arise from the first moment I began creating the character Hyun-ju,” Hwang told TV Guide. “In the beginning we were doing our research, and I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor.” That process proved challenging for the Squid Game crew. “When we researched in Korea, there are close to no actors that are openly trans, let alone openly gay, because unfortunately in the Korean society currently the LGBTQ community is rather still marginalized and more neglected, which is heartbreaking.”

LGBTQ rights in South Korea are few compared to those in the U.S. and other countries in the West. South Korea has not legalized same-sex marriage — only three places in Asia have — and discrimination against the LGBTQ community is common. In July, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can receive the same health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples in a move that Amnesty International called a “historic victory” for equality and human rights in the country. But the organization also urged lawmakers to further “protect the rights of LGBTI individuals in South Korea by legalizing marriage equality and enacting a comprehensive anti-discrimination law.”

Given that setting, the number of Korean actors who openly identify as LGBTQ is small. When it comes to the representation of LGBTQ actors in the entertainment industry, Hollywood is miles ahead of many parts of the world.

“It was near impossible to find someone who we could cast authentically,” Hwang continued. “And that led us to the decision to cast Sung-hoon.” The director has long been familiar with the actor, who most recently starred in Korean hits including The Glory and Queen of Tears. “I have watched his work ever since his debut, and I had complete trust in him that he would be the right person in terms of talent in portraying this character,” Hwang said.

Casting cisgender actors as trans characters was common in Hollywood as recently as the past decade, but conversations have evolved as the trans community has gained more visibility in the industry. Trans activists argue that casting cis actors in trans roles has the potential to harm the community by perpetuating stereotypes. In this case, casting a cis man instead of a cis woman to play a trans woman could further the misconception that trans women are actually men pretending to be women.

Squid Game Season 2’s Hyun-ju will belong to a very small group of trans characters that have appeared in Korean dramas. The most commonly cited example is Itaewon Class‘s Ma Hyun-yi, a transgender woman who was played by actor Lee Joo-young, a cisgender woman. In 2020, when that series came out, Itaewon Class was praised for its depiction of Hyun-yi as a multidimensional character, and for being a rare case of LGBTQ representation in K-dramas. Examples of trans characters with significant arcs in K-dramas since then have been far and few between.

While Squid Game is sure to spark more conversations around the importance of authentic casting, the show’s inclusion of Hyun-ju could still move the needle in LGBTQ representation outside of the U.S.

Season 1 of Squid Game is available to stream on Netflix. Season 2 premieres Thursday, Dec. 26 on Netflix.