'Squid Game' stars confident South Korea will overcome martial law turmoil

SEOUL: Stars of Netflix's mega-hit series "Squid Game" on Monday lamented South Korea's ongoing political turmoil since last week's shocking martial law order by President Yoon Suk Yeol but said they were confident the country will overcome the crisis.

The show's highly anticipated second season premiered in Seoul ahead of its release on Dec. 26 just as South Korea reels from the fallout of Yoon's botched martial law attempt.

"Many people should be going through a very chaotic and unpredictable time where you don't know what will happen tomorrow," Lee Byung-hun, who plays the game's Front Man, told Reuters. "I'm not much different from you, but I believe that we will definitely overcome this situation."

Wi Ha-jun, who returns to the show as police officer Hwang Jun-ho, also expressed regret over the situation.

"I really hope that the country will return to normal as soon as possible, so that all of our people have a happy holiday season and a happy Christmas," he said.

The first season of the dystopian thriller became Netflix's most-watched series ever and a global sensation following its release in September 2021.

It tells the story of cash-strapped contestants risking their lives to play childhood games for a chance to win life-changing sums of money.

The show's creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said last month that its second season will feature a bigger cast of characters and more absorbing challenges than the original.

Hwang won an Emmy Award for outstanding directing for a drama series, and lead actor Lee Jung-jae scored best drama actor. Both were the first Asians to win those titles, and the first from a non-English series.

Lee Jung-jae said his character Seong Gi-hun will return as a different person, seeking revenge and justice against people behind the life-or-death games.

Lee Byung-hun added that the second season carries an even more solid storyline and many surprising twists.

"Many people probably think that there's no better sequel then the original, but when I got the Season 2 script, I thought, 'Oh, this is definitely an exception,'" he said.

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