While Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 is garnering global attention with various promotions ahead of its release on the 26th, Choi Seung-hyun (TOP) from group Big Bang, who was listed as a ‘main cast’, is unable to enjoy the excitement alone as he has been excluded from various events.

This is because Choi Seung-hyun, who returned with a global mega-hit drama due to director Hwang Dong-hyuk‘s insistence despite public criticism due to his drug use record, is the only one who is being thoroughly excluded from promotions. Choi Seung-hyun had been suspended from activities since receiving a suspended sentence on drug charges in 2017.

Choi Seung-hyun, who plays the role of Thanos, a rapper who loses a large sum of money in a coin investment and participates in a game of death, was removed from the main poster featuring the main cast including Lee Jung-jae, despite being one of the main characters. Although he made a brief appearance in the character video introducing the main characters, he was ‘passed’ in the nine character posters featuring each of the nine game participants.
He was nowhere to be found at several official events. He was also absent from the production conference where Season 2 was officially introduced for the first time. At the large-scale production conference held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul on the 9th, attended by even foreign press, director Hwang Dong-hyuk and 12 cast members including Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Im Si-wan, Park Sung-hoon, Kang Ha-neul, Yang Dong-geun, Lee Seo-hwan, Kang Ae-sim, Jo Yu-ri, Wi Ha-joon, Park Gyu-young, and Lee Jin-wook were in attendance.

At the large-scale world premiere fan event held the same evening after the production conference, a whopping 22 actors attended, including supporting actors Chae Kook-hee, Lee David, No Jae-won, and Jeon Suk-ho who did not attend the production conference, as well as season 1 leads Park Hae-soo and Jung Ho-yeon, but Choi Seung-hyun was not there. The same was true at the fan event held in LA, USA with over 2,000 global fans.
Choi Seung-hyun was also not present at the special dinner event held after the theater preview of the entire season 2 on the 23rd. The event was attended by actors who newly joined Season 2, including Im Si-wan, Park Sung-hoon, and Yang Dong-geun, and raised expectations for Season 2.

Choi Seung-hyun is also completely blocked from interviews with the press to promote the drama. Netflix informed the domestic press that they would conduct promotional interviews with Director Hwang and 10 cast members, including Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun, but Choi Seung-hyun was completely left out.

Despite casting Choi Seung-hyun in the face of public criticism, Netflix is wiping Choi Seung-hyun out of various promotions ahead of the drama’s release, and some are critical of this. Director Hwang Dong-hyeok assured, “We verified his (acting) skills through auditions and script readings, and Choi Seung-hyun himself was very determined. After the drama is released, you will understand why we insisted on casting Choi Seung-hyun.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com