Director Hwang Dong-hyeok of the Netflix original series ‘Squid Game’ stated that the controversy over Choi Seung-hyun‘s ‘bad acting’, who plays the new character Thanos in Season 2, was “a reflection of my directorial intentions.”

During an interview held at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 2nd, Director Hwang Dong-hyeok explained the Thanos character played by Choi Seung-hyun as “a character that represents social issues related to the MZ generation.” Unlike Season 1, which was centered around middle-aged and older characters, Director Hwang, who increased the number and proportion of young characters in Season 2, said, “In Season 1, I thought that people who would get into debt enough to participate in this killing game for money would be old enough. However, recently, not only in Korea but also all over the world, young friends who get into huge debts due to drugs, sports gambling, virtual currency, etc. have become a major social problem. “I wanted to capture those issues through characters like Thanos, Nam-gyu (Noh Jae-won), and Myeong-gi (Im Si-wan),” he said.

Director Hwang then talked about why he insisted on casting Choi Seung-hyun, who had been the subject of controversy since the casting stage. Choi Seung-hyun had previously been on probation for drug charges in 2017 and had been suspended from activities. When news broke that he would be returning to activities through Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’, there was a huge outpouring of criticism from the public.
Director Hwang said, “Choi Seung-hyun was one of the 11 actors on the casting list for the character of Thanos,” and added, “Actually, Choi Seung-hyun had been suspended from activities, and the character was somewhat mocking me, so I thought about taking on the character. Then I went through all the auditions but couldn’t find an actor I liked, so I thought I should ask Choi Seung-hyun if he would be interested in auditioning. He said he would audition and did a script reading, and of all the actors I‘ve auditioned for, he was the best fit for Thanos. I saw potential,” he said.

He also said that he “never expected” the public’s fierce criticism of his casting. “I didn‘t know that Choi Seung-hyun would be this unforgiving to the public. (The drug use allegations) happened a long time ago, so I thought it would be okay,” he said. “But the criticism was unexpectedly strong. To be honest, I worried about whether I should kick him out. However, there was also the process of preparing together, and it was difficult to kick out someone who had worked hard to prepare for a character that made a mockery of himself. Choi Seung-hyun also said repeatedly, ‘I’m sorry for causing harm,’, and I thought we should take the blame together and be judged together.”
Choi Seung-hyun, who has been embroiled in controversy since the release of Season 2, also defended the ‘acting’, saying, “It was not due to Choi Seung-hyun‘s lack of acting ability, but rather due to the director’s intention.”In Season 1, there were mixed reviews saying that characters like Deok-soo (Heo Sung-tae) and Mi-nyeo (Kim Joo-ryeong) were overly exaggerated. However, the overseas response to those characters was very good, and since Season 2 is a production targeting a global audience, I thought that such exaggerated characters were necessary. That‘s how Thanos was created. In fact, while I was filming, I thought, ’Is this the right tone?‘ but I needed a character with this strange energy and swagger,” he explained.

Regarding the exclusion of Choi Seung-hyun from various promotions, he said that it was the decision of the promotion managers such as Netflix, not the director, and that “it’s not something I can tell you to do,” and added, “I think he (Choi Seung-hyun) would have wanted to do it too. If he‘s not going to continue to live in hiding, I think Choi Seung-hyun should confront him himself if he has something he wants to explain. In fact, Choi Seung-hyun doesn’t seem like the type of person who can handle having many (reporters) sit down and ask him dozens of questions at once. Nevertheless, I hope that there will be a place where Choi Seung-hyun can honestly tell his story.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com