Netflix doesn’t appear to have watched or understood its international smash hit Squid Game, because it has just announced Squid Game: The Challenge. It’s a reality TV competition in which 456 players will compete for the biggest cash prize in game show history – $4.56 million.
Squid Game, need we remind you, was an anti-capitalist Korean show which depicted a near-future in which citizens who were massively in debt would compete in a deadly competition to win 45.6 billion South Korean won. Every time a player loses a game, they are killed and it adds 100 million to the cash prize.
“Squid Game took the world by storm with Hwang Dong-hyuk’s captivating story and iconic imagery,” said Brandon Riegg, Netflix vice-president of unscripted series. “We’re grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this massive competition and social experiment. Fans of the drama series are in for a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real world contestants navigate the biggest competition series ever, full of tension and twists, with the biggest-ever cash prize at the end.”
Players from around the world can apply, but have to be able to speak English. As The Hollywood Reporter points out; “The production will be especially tricky, as producers won’t know who’s going to survive in advance and therefore must get sufficient coverage of all 456 contestants in the early stages of the game in order to craft an edit that follows the show’s ‘protagonists’ all the way through.”
You can watch the announcement video below;
While we wait for The Challenge, which could break even more viewing records than Squid Game, check out our guide to the best Netflix series.