Squid Game, the wildly popular Netflix series, achieved overwhelming success with its first season and earned praise for its unique concept, trippy aesthetic, and gritty social commentary. Now that it’s returned for a much-anticipated second installment, it’s obvious that with Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456, being the only one to return, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had the challenge of introducing a new cast of fresh faces into the mix, each with their own compelling stories. Among the most-talked-about additions is a transgender player, whose involvement has sparked conversation and controversy.

Returning to the deadly game of life-or-death challenges, Squid Game Season 2 introduces a diverse ensemble of characters, like a young pregnant woman and an elderly mother. Another new contestant is Cho Hyun-ju (Player 120), a transgender female and former special forces soldier who finds herself short on funds for gender-affirming surgery, is extremely kindhearted, and is the first person to join Gi-hun’s rebellion as the season advances. When asked about the purpose of making such a conscious effort, Hwang told Decider that he wanted to advocate the importance of representation in an industry that has historically lacked it.

“I saw the people who come to join the games in Squid Game as people who are usually marginalized or neglected from society, and not just financially speaking. In Season 1, the representative character for that was Ali, who was a foreigner working in Korea, which is one of the most representative minority groups in Korea… Today, unfortunately, in Korean society, the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society. Which is why I created the character Hyun-ju as a male to female transgender woman.”

The Controversy Around Park Sung-hoon’s Casting in ‘Squid Game’ Season 2

 

Hwang Dong-hyuk’s commitment to bringing awareness and understanding to Korea was now without challenges. The director admitted that he had difficulty finding a Korean transgender actress to play the role of Cho Hyun-ju. To TV Guide, he revealed:

“In the beginning we were doing our research, and I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor. 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.”

Eventually, Hwang cast Park Sung-hoon, a well-known male actor, to portray Hyun-ju. The director had been watching the actor’s work since he debuted in a movie called A Frozen Flower. Hwang also saw his most recent and widely-recognized role in Netflix’s The Glory and believed that the decision to cast a cisgender male actor, while not ideal, would still contribute to the representation and acceptance of transgender individuals in Korea.

“By creating a character much like Hyun-ju and through her choices, her actions, and the way she carries herself in the game, I hope that that could raise awareness of these issues that we face today.”

The announcement of Park Sung-hoon’s casting in a transgender role received mixed reactions. Some expressed concerns about the lack of opportunities for transgender actors in the Korean entertainment industry, while others praised the inclusion of the character itself as a step towards representation. Regardless of the controversy, Hwang remains optimistic about his choices and the impact it will create.