‘Squid Game’ Star Lee Byung-Hun Talks Favorite Season Two Scene & ‘Unbelievable Moment’ Promoting A Korean Project In Hollywood
This article contains spoilers for Squid Game Season 2.
What started as a small but enigmatic role for veteran actor Lee Byung-hun in the first season of Squid Game as Front Man/In-ho has bloomed into a pivotal and much larger part in the sequel.
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Removing the mask of his Front Man persona, Lee’s character soon enters the ruthless, winner-takes-all games as Player 001, allying himself alongside former game-winner Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae).
“After it was decided that I would be in Season 2, Director Hwang [Dong-hyuk] paid a visit to where I was filming a different project,” Lee tells Deadline. “I asked him, ‘Do you have any idea how Season 2 is going to go?’ At that time, Director Hwang didn’t have a concrete idea. I had a vague idea that it would probably be about In-ho’s past, but when I read the completed script later, I was quite shocked to see that it was completely different from what I had expected.”
After breakout roles in Korean films like Joint Security Area, A Bittersweet Life and The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Lee ventured into Hollywood, taking on the role of Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009. He also appeared in G.I. Joe: Retaliation and RED 2.
However, it was only at the Squid Game Season 2 premiere in Los Angeles in mid-December 2024 — more than 15 years after his Hollywood debut — that Lee realized it was his first time walking the red carpet with a Korean project and surrounded by his Korean peers.
“It was a really unbelievable moment because having experienced Hollywood — not just Hollywood films and the production experience, but also being in parties, events and gatherings — it was very different to be there on the red carpet with the cast members, with my colleagues, with something that we created in the Korean language,” says Lee.
“It was a Korean drama series that we were there to promote, so at that moment, I think it all began to really sink in, just how amazing Korean content has become. I felt very proud to be there and it also brought back a lot of my memories about my experiences in Hollywood and the challenges that I had to go through back then. It just all came back to me,” adds Lee.
The second season of Squid Game has spent four consecutive weeks in the top spot in Netflix’s Top 10 List for non-English shows, racking up a total of 165.7M views since its December 26 premiere. It is now the streamer’s second-most watched non-English show in terms of all-time viewership.
Lee will also soon appear in Park Chan-wook’s next film, No Other Choice, which wrapped production this week.
While Lee had numerous scenes in Squid Game 2 which continuously challenged him in juggling his three identities as Front Man, In-ho and Player 001, Lee picked the scene where he gathers with his teammates alongside Gi-hun before the rebellion as the most memorable scene for him.
“It’s the scene where the team gets together and sits around before they cause the rebellion. They are having a little team discussion and Front Man asks Gi-hun, ‘Are you saying that we make a small sacrifice for the greater good?’ Even though Gi-hun doesn’t explicitly say yes, he does imply that he agrees to that,” says Lee.
“And watching Gi-hun say that, Front Man lets out a smile, a very slight smile, because that shows him that Gi-hun’s beliefs are weakening a little,” adds Lee. “That moment was not only critical because it was a step forward for Front Man in achieving his goal, but also the most memorable scene for me.”
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