The story
Drowning in debt, gambling addict Seong Gi-hun accepts a stranger's invitation to play a few children's games for a life-changing cash prize. He is taken to a remote island with 455 other desperate contestants in matching green tracksuits, watched by masked guards. The games are simple, but losing one means death – and each elimination makes the jackpot bigger. Alliances form and fracture as the players decide what they will do for money.
Why it matters
Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote the story in 2009 but found no backer until Netflix, expanding its foreign-language slate, took an interest. Squid Game became Netflix's most-watched series, the first non-English show nominated for the drama series Emmy, and won Lee Jung-jae the lead drama actor Emmy – the first for an Asian man.
Notable facts
- Netflix estimated that the first season reached more than 142 million member households in its first 28 days. (source)
- It was the first non-English-language show nominated for the Emmy for best drama series. (source)
- Wins for Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung made it the first non-English-language series to win at the SAG Awards. (source)
- Hwang won the drama directing Emmy for the first episode, "Red Light, Green Light". (source)