The following article contains spoilers for Squid Game Season 2. If you're not caught up, you can check out all seven episodes with a Netflix subscription.
If you're a fan of the Netflix series Squid Game, you know that the actual games they play are real children's games that anyone could participate in. While Squid Game gives these competitions a deadly twist, one game in Season 2 had everyone on edge, and that was the six-legged race that led into five different mini-games that each player had to pass in order to survive in a five-minute time limit. However, a couple of Squid Game actors opened up about which games they think they'd be able to do in real life – and others that would be pretty challenging.
While the games were split apart in Season 2 of Squid Game, there were still plenty of moments that had fans on the edge of their seats, one of which happened to be in Episodes 4 and 5, where five players, whose legs were tied, had to complete five children's games. When speaking to journalists in our junket prior to Squid Game Season 2 releasing, actors Yang Dong-geun (Player 007) and Kang Ae-shim (Player 149) were asked about games they think they'd be successful at – and Kang Ae-shim was quick to say they'd all be "pretty challenging" for her:
I think there weren't any games that I was particularly confident in. Maybe like hitting the stone – but the rest of the games, I felt like were still pretty challenging for me.
'Hitting the Stone', known in Korea as Biseokchigi, was one game that was undoubtedly easier to do within the five games the players had to participate in. Kang Ae-shim's character, Player 149, rocked it while playing gong-gi. I'm pretty sure I would have panicked, so it's funny to hear the actress say the only game she's relatively confident in is one that wasn't even the game her character participated in.
Her on-screen son, Yang Dong-geun, did have his character throw the stone. The actor says that out of every game, that's the one he could probably do – and he wondered if the director had Player 149 hit the stone as well due to Yang Dong-geun's past roles:
As a part of the race, you see that I have to hit the stone, and that's what my character has to do, but I don't know if director Hwang had already seen me play a pitcher in a previous project, but because of that, I was able to hit the stone really easily and well. Some of the actors were having trouble with it, because you actually have to hit the stone for the shot, but I was able to do it and got a real reaction from my cast members being really excited and impressed.
That's actually so funny. As someone who was genuinely wondering how difficult it would be to play all these different games while watching the show, it's hilarious to hear that the actors legitimately had to make the shot in order for it to go in the show – and judging from Yang Dong-geun's happy reaction, it seems he was all too happy to impress.
Truthfully, any of these games in Season 2 would be scary to do in real life under the circumstances that these players go through, whether it's the six-legged race, Red Light, Green Light, or, of course, Mingle. But I suppose that's what makes Squid Game one of the best shows to binge on Netflix – it takes normal children's games and turns them into horrifying nightmares.
With Squid Game ending with Season 3, I can only wonder what fresh hell we are going to see with the following games – and how 007 and 147 are going to react to them if the actors themselves see the games as challenging. Now, all I have to do is wait for the 2025 TV schedule to move along so we can get the next part – but patience has never been my friend. I suppose I'll check out other shows like Squid Game to hold me over in the meantime.
