The Squid Game stars are kicking back in the Hollywood Hills in their newest Queue photo shoot as they reflect on the show’s success over the past year. Joining Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo and Jung Ho-yeon, the series’ creator Hwang Dong-hyuk talks about how he brought the K-drama from script to screen in the latest Queue cover story.

After all the historic award wins, magazine covers and even an official EP remixing the show’s haunting soundtrack, there’s no denying the magnitude of Squid Game’s global success. For Hwang, however, that wasn’t always the case. As he shares with Queue, the series was initially written as a feature film in 2009, inspired by the global financial crisis. “I was always struggling — my mother had retired, and I was the only person earning a living to support my family,” he says. Although Hwang had a compelling story reflecting the devastation around him, he couldn’t find the right investors and producers for the film. “People thought it was too outrageous,” he says. With little interest, the script was filed away as the filmmaker embarked on other projects. 

‘Squid Game’ Creator and Stars Reflect on the K-drama’s Success

During that decade, Hwang established himself as an A-list director in Korea with such films as Silenced, Miss Granny and The Fortress. Despite all of his successes, things around him didn’t get much better over the years. “If anything, with the widening wealth gap and the COVID pandemic, it’s a tougher world to live in now than it was before,” Hwang shares. “What we once thought was unrealistic hits too close to home now. People relate so much with Squid Game because, as a society, we push each other to the extremes and prioritize materialism over everything else. The real world looks a lot like Squid Game.” And, with that, the shelved project was green-lit as a series in 2019. 

In the Queue feature, Squid Game finalists Lee, Park and Jung share how they tapped into a state of moral chaos to prepare for their emotionally charged roles. From visits to Seoul National University to studying passersby at local supermarkets, the stars drew inspiration from the world around them, as well as within themselves. “I was able to draw a pretty clear picture of Sae-byeok almost immediately — I could relate to her because I also spent a long time away from home,” Jung says of her modeling days in New York City. “I thought it would be the same with Sae-byeok, who had to run away and keep to herself.” After the show’s premiere last September, the model-turned-actor has been catapulted into stardom, but she doesn’t take the accolades for granted. “It’s difficult to just be so happy about [the series’] success,” Jung tells Queue. “It’s an honor to get so much love and all these awards, and I am grateful for that.”