Netflix Confirms Squid Game Will Return, Teases A Full "Universe"

Massively popular Korean television show Squid Game will "absolutely" get a second season, according to Netflix's Ted Sarandos. The co-CEO confirmed the plan during the company's Q421 earnings call in January, hinting that not only will the show get a second season, but that Netflix may also be eyeing a wider "universe" based around the series.

Netflix has published its 2021 earnings, noting as part of it that Squid Game was its top show last year, joining its two all-time-best movies Don't Look Up and Red Notice. Though the earnings report doesn't elaborate on the company's future plan for the show, Sarandos did confirm during an earnings call that Squid Game season two is in the pipeline (via Netflix).

When asked whether a second season was planned, Sarandos replied, "Absolutely. The Squid Game universe has just begun." That brief statement presents an exciting possibility: Netflix may be looking at Squid Game as more than an isolated hit and instead as a proper universe upon which to build future content.

Netflix is no stranger to telling stories all set within the same fictional universes. In November 2018, for example, the company revealed plans to launch multiple shows all set in the Roald Dahl universe. Simiarly, Netflix targeted the popular Resident Evil universe as the foundation for telling new stories. Beyond that, Netflix has already capitalized on Squid Game's popularity with a line of merchandise.

Unfortunately, Netflix is keeping quiet about its bigger plans at this time. We don't yet know when Squid Game season two will arrive and how its "universe" may be leveraged going forward.

Viral hits, despite companies' best efforts to replicate them, tend to come and go without warning, springing up seemingly out of nowhere to blow away the competition. We've seen multiple Netflix Originals earn this honor over the years, including hits like Stranger Things, and September 2021 brought us the latest example of this phenomenon.

Within its first couple of months on the streaming platform, Squid Game skyrocketed to popularity around the world, quickly becoming Netflix's most successful original of all time. Though the company tends to keep its show and movie data a secret, it does break that trend when there's a good reason to brag.

That's why we know that Squid Game raked in 1.65 billion hours of streaming within its first month on Netflix, where it debuted on September 17, 2021. In comparison, according to Variety, the second-biggest show on the platform, Bridgerton, pulled in 625 million hours of streaming over the same timespan.