"Squid Game" concludes its journey with its third season.. and the director reveals the high price of its success
South Korean director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of the global series "Squid Game", revealed the health and mental challenges he faced due to immense pressure during the production, which led to him losing between 8 to 9 teeth due to excessive stress.
Hwang told "The Times": "When I feel stressed, my health deteriorates, especially my gums", explaining that his emotional attachment to the series turned into a psychological burden, despite his repeated attempts to mentally distance himself from it.
The series will premiere its third and final season this weekend on Netflix, described by Hwang as "the final chapter" of a cultural phenomenon that originated from South Korea and achieved unprecedented global popularity.
The new season will explore events occurring a decade or two after the end of the previous seasons, but will also revisit the director's childhood memories in the seventies and eighties of the last century, from which he drew inspiration for the harsh games depicted in the series.
Hwang commented: "Squid Game was the most aggressive game in my childhood, but it was my favorite".
Despite the apparent violence in the series, Hwang affirmed that the final season will include touches of childhood nostalgia, through simple games known in different cultures, presented within a dark framework reflecting deep psychological and social complexities.
The series, which includes explicit violent scenes, raised concerns among parents about its impact on children, especially with the proliferation of electronic applications inspired by it, and the recurrence of violence scenes among school students.
However, Hwang defended his work, saying that "digital broadcasting is the most suitable medium for content that may not fit traditional television", denying allegations of promoting violence, and emphasizing that "brutality has always been part of human history, but its complexities today have become more subtle".
Despite personal challenges, Hwang recently received the highest cultural medal in South Korea from President Yoon Suk-yeol, in appreciation of his exceptional artistic achievement, which came at the cost of losing teeth and struggling with stress, but he created a global phenomenon that will conclude with the third season.
