When Squid Game premiered on Netflix on September 17, 2021, it quickly became a worldwide phenomenon…and for good reason. The South Korean show creator’s (Hwang Dong-hyuk) catchy high-concept was the perfect vehicle for the creator to express an uncompromising critique of the corrosive effects of money, power, and authority on age, sex, mental health, and class—timeless themes that resonated with viewers around the world.
With the wild success of the first season, it didn’t take long for whispers about additional seasons to be heard up and down the corridors of Netflix’s corporate bunker.
Which brings us to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. He is a man of rare missteps. As of October 2021, he could do no wrong until…Dave Chapelle’s comedy special streamed on Netflix. He told some incendiary, controversial transgender jokes. Ted was asked what he thought and his response was unwavering support for the jokes in the name of entertainment. When a growing group of people began to stand up and shout at him from within and outside Netflix, he yet again supported Chapelle at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event…and THEN, Ted tripled down with an in-house email missive to all employees where he naively wrote–“…Adults can watch violence, assault and abuse – or enjoy shocking stand-up comedy – without it causing them to harm others,”
And it was THAT email that triggered walk-outs, protests, you name it…and Ted was in Defcon 5 mode. What the hell to do?
Meanwhile, the Squid Game creator was mulling over his take for Seasons 2 and 3. A few dangling subplots had been left to chance and the creator of the show tipped of interviewers with the suggestion of a far more in-depth assessment of the police forces and authority and the relationship between our lead game participant and his brother who was a police officer.
When things built to a crescendo, creator got so excited that a deal had been struck with Netflix that he told reporters on November 9th 2021 that there would be a second season.
And then something weird happened. In response to the Squid Game creator publicly announcing there would be a Season 2, Netflix countered publicly that the second season was still in discussions and not confirmed. The creator confirmed it, but Netflix denied it was a done deal? That never happens. Usually, the buyer/studio remains silent so as to neither endorse or refute what was said.
We think it was during this period between November 9th 2021 and late January 2022 when Ted saw the perfect opportunity to overcorrect his transgender stance screwup and quell those who held torches and pitchforks in the name of insensitivity. Ted reached out to the creator and suggested a new character be introduced who represented the gender identity issue even though Ted and the creator knew it did not play into the struggles the creator envisioned. To the contrary, the creator was much more interested in gender stereotypes in terms of how men and women related to one another competitively and emotionally.
What do we have to back this up? Never mind there are even fewer transgender people in South Korea than the less than 1% in the United States. Never mind that the powerful themes that resonated with the creator had nothing to do with gender identity. Never mind that none of the previous feature films and television projects from the creator had anything to do with gender identity.
And then comes the biggest backup. In December 2024, the creator was talking about the transgender character and the challenges of finding a trans actor in South Korea. Sure, transgender people do not announce themselves, BUT if they don’t announce themselves in South Korea, how does the creator even know how significant an issue it is? And he could not find a single trans person who might be able to act? Absurd. The person they hired couldn’t act, so what would have been the difference?
The creator and Ted hid behind the “there aren’t any trans actors” nonsense and cast a cis gender actor who was neither fish nor fowl in the identity category (and who, ironically, created controversy for not being transgender). They split the baby because this character was not an archetype in any way and did not fit in the theme of the show and Ted knew it.
Flash forward: Ted Sarandos becomes the poster boy of freedom for the transgender community when he went all in on the unwatchable Emelia Perez (Does anyone know anyone who was able to sit through the entire film?)