Netflix original series ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 has made an unusual record by being nominated for Best Picture at the ‘Golden Globes’, the leading American film and television awards show to be held early next year, ahead of its release at the end of the year.

According to the list of nominees announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which hosts the Golden Globes, on the 10th (Korean time), the unreleased ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 has been nominated for Best Television Series – Drama at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. The awards ceremony will be held on January 6th next year.

Along with ‘Squid Game’, the other six nominated for Best Series include FX‘s ‘Shogun’, Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’, Apple TV+‘s ‘Slow Horses’, Prime Video’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, and Peacock‘s ‘Day of the Jackal’. Of these, ‘Squid Game’ is the only series that has not yet been released to the general public.

The Golden Globe nominees were selected from programs that aired this year that submitted all episodes to the organizers by November 4th. According to Netflix, ‘Squid Game’ season 2, which is scheduled to be released on the 26th, submitted its entire airtime to the organizers in advance, which allowed it to be nominated.

In relation to this, the Hollywood Reporter, a leading Hollywood entertainment media outlet, reported that ‘Squid Game’s nomination this time is “unique”, saying, “It’s not like the Golden Globes have never nominated an unreleased project for an award, but most of those have happened in the film category, not the TV series category.”.

Director Hwang Dong-hyeok, who wrote and directed ‘Squid Game’, said, “I‘m really grateful that they’ve nominated an unreleased work for such a big awards ceremony. I did my best not to disappoint my fans. “I’m so happy and glad that the Golden Globes were the first to recognize our efforts,” he said.

Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’, which has been showing off its prowess as a ‘global mega hit’, including being selected for the Golden Globes before its release, began its countdown with a large-scale production conference at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul on the 9th. Director Hwang, as well as the lead actors Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun, left for Los Angeles (LA) on the 10th to attend the premiere event.

Season 2 depicts the fierce battle between Ki-hoon (Lee Jung-jae), the winner of Season 1 who returns to participate in the game of death after vowing revenge, and Frontman (Lee Byung-hun), the game’s organizer, who faces him. Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun, as well as Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, and Jo Yu-ri, will appear.


Reporter Lee Seung-mi smlee@donga.com