Netflix
- Squid Game is on track to become the most popular Netflix series of all time.
- Despite this, the series had trouble finding a home for over a decade.
- Keep up with all of the latest pop culture news here.
Tonight’s the night: the night I’ll finally be firing up Squid Game. It’s taken me a while — partially due to the deluge of screeners entertainment writers have been consuming in the last few weeks, and partially due to the fact that I’ve recently been catching up on Succession — but the moment has finally arrived. Heading into it and knowing nothing about it other than the tweets and screenshots I’ve seen online, I’m expecting a cross between that Ewan McGregor/Scarlett Johansson movie The Island and Saw. Still, I really don’t have a clue what I’m in for.
Maybe that very difficulty — the trouble with picturing exactly what the series is — is what led foolish TV execs to pass on the series for a decade, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk first thought up the idea for Squid Game over ten years ago. At the time, the film director and screenwriter was living with his mother and grandmother and had to halt on scriptwriting at one point as he was forced to sell his $675 laptop for money.
Local film studios rejected pitches for Squid Game, believing the concept to be “implausible” and “too grotesque”. However, the show was finally picked up by Netflix, who thought that the class struggles depicted in the show “spoke to reality”. [IGN via Wall Street Journal]
Everyone who passed on Squid Game is obviously kicking themselves now, as the series is on track to become the most popular Netflix series ever made. As a result, the streaming behemoth is already “trying to figure out” a second season.
RELATED: Jeff Bezos Chimes In On ‘Squid Game’, Internet Instantly Begins Panicking
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