Kang No-eul

''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean survival drama series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a billion won prize (100 million per person eliminated).

The first season of the series features an ensemble cast including Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Jung Ho-yeon, Wi Ha-joon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, Kim Joo-ryoung, Lee Byung-hun and Lee Seo-hwan. For the second season, a new ensemble cast is introduced including Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Choi Seung-hyun (T.O.P.), Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim and Park Gyu-young with Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon, Lee Byung-hun and Lee Seo-hwan reprising their roles from season one.

Overview

Main characters

Central characters

Seong Gi-hun

Seong Gi-hun, also known as Player 456, is the main protagonist of Squid Game. He is acted by Lee Jung-jae. Gi-hun is a gambler down on his luck who gets recruited to play in the Squid Game, a series of deadly childhood games (including "Red Light, Green Light", "Marbles", "Tug of war" and the eponymous Squid game), for a high cash prize, which he ultimately wins. In the second season, he returns to the game to end it. Gi-hun was based on one of the childhood friends of series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo were based on Hwang's own personal experiences and represented "two sides" of himself; Gi-hun shared the same aspects of being raised by an economically disadvantaged single mother in the Ssangmun district of Seoul, while Sang-woo reflected on Hwang having attended Seoul National University with high expectations from his family and neighborhood. Hwang said he chose to cast Lee as Gi-hun as to "destroy his charismatic image portrayed in his previous roles".

Gi-hun and his portrayal by Lee Jung-jae has received critical acclaim. The ''New York Times'' named him their breakout star of 2021; stating: "As the protagonist Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict who is deeply in debt, he gives a wrenching and surprisingly subtle performance as he battles his way through unspeakable horrors." For his performance in the first season, he was nominated for numerous accolades, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, making him the first male actor from Asia and Korea to receive individual nominations in those categories across all three awards shows with his win for the latter and co-star Jung Ho-yeon winning the respective female award making history for the show becoming the first non-English language television series to win at the SAG Awards. He was also nominated along with his costars for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Born on October 31, 1974, Gi-hun is a resident from the Ssangmun-dong neighborhood in the city of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. 10 years after losing his job at an automobile manufacturing plant run by Dragon Motors, he is a divorced father, who besides working as a chauffeur, continuously gambles for the purpose of earning money. Living with his diabetic mother, and upon learning that his daughter Seong Ga-yeong, who along with her mother and stepdad, will be moving to America, Gi-hun desperately wants to gain custody. Gi-hun often borrows money from his mother, the bank, as well as from loan sharks. Due to his excessive gambling and other different factors, Gi-hun is millions of won in debt, and constantly evades paying back the money he owes to the bank and loan sharks.

One day after winning 100.000 won playing Ddakji with a salesman, Gi-hun gets invited to the Squid Game, an offer he accepts in hopes of winning a large amount of money, paying back his large debts, paying his mother's hospital bills, gaining back custody of his daughter and overall securing a good life for him and his family. Throughout the game, Gi-hun forms an alliance with Cho Sang-woo, a childhood friend of his, Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector, Ali Abdul (who saved Gi-hun's life during "Red Light, Green Light") and Oh Il-nam, an elderly man. However, due to Cho Sang-woo's willingness to let other players die to further advance in the game, he and Gi-hun become rivals, competing against each other in the final, eponymous squid game. Gi-hun beats Sang-woo in the final game but refuses to kill him, offering him a chance to use the game's third clause to save his friend's life. However, Sang-woo commits suicide by stabbing himself in the neck, allowing Gi-hun to win the competition. As a final request before his death, Sang-woo asks Gi-hun to use some of the prize winnings to help his mother. Gi-hun is heartbroken at Sang-woo's death.

As the winner, Gi-hun receives the prize money and returns to Seoul, but discovers his mother had died and mourns over her body. Gi-hun is left emotionally traumatized from what he went through during the game, living out his old life and not spending any of his winnings. A year later, in December 2021, Gi-hun receives a card from "his gganbu" instructing him to visit a skyscraper. Gi-hun comes upon Il-nam, thought to have died in the games, alive but lying in his deathbed, and is horrified and disgusted at Il-nam's revelation that he created the Squid Game. After Gi-hun wins Il-nam's bet regarding a homeless man outside, Il-nam passes away. Following this, Gi-hun dyes his hair red, puts Sae-byeok's brother in the care of Sang-woo's mother and gives her a suitcase containing a large portion of the prize money. Gi-hun then decides to board a flight to Los Angeles to see his daughter but notices the same salesman he originally encountered at the subway playing ddakji with another player. Gi-hun runs to the other side of the platform and takes the invitation card from the player, then calls the number himself, stating that he cannot forgive the organizers for everything they have done. After the Front Man tells him to "just get on that plane", Gi-hun turns around and walks away to try and take down the game's organizers.

Two years later, Gi-hun has been searching for the Recruiter relentlessly. They eventually meet and play a game of Russian Roulette, in which the Recruiter dies and Gi-hun finds a card in his jacket. The card leads him to a party where a pink guard takes him to a limo where he talks to the Front Man, asking him to return to the game. Gi-hun returns to the game and warns the players in the "Red Light, Green Light" game, helping most of them survive. He then plays a six-legged pentathlon, which Gi-hun and his team narrowly win, and a pairs game, which he also survives. Before a fight breaks out between players wanting to continue the games and those trying to end them early, Gi-hun and his team come up with a plan to end the game, starting a riot. Despite initial success, the plan fails and he is captured and confronted by the Front Man, who asks him if it was worth it and kills Jung-bae, leaving Gi-hun devastated once again.

Hwang Jun-ho

Hwang Jun-ho is portrayed by Wi Ha-joon.

Jun-ho is a South Korean police detective who is searching for his missing half-brother, In-ho. When Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) explains his experience in the first game to the police, Jun-ho is the only one who does not react with skepticism. He later discovers evidence that his long-missing brother took part in the games, after finding the same Squid Game business card Gi-hun left at the police station in his brother's abandoned apartment room, so decides to infiltrate the games to try to find him.

Jun-ho stows away on a ferry to the island where the games occur and poses as a guard. He records several events from the games on his cell phone with the intent of delivering this evidence to his skeptical boss and colleagues. After a higher-level guard is killed, Jun-ho takes his place and discreetly asks Gi-hun if he has heard of a player named In-ho. Gi-hun responds by saying the players do not know each other's real names.

He later gets caught up in an organ trafficking plot which the guard he initially took the identity of was part of, and believes his brother died in the games as the corrupt guards who were trafficking player's organs mentioned a player acting like a 'zombie' with only one kidney. Jun-ho believed this was his brother as he had previously given Jun-ho one of his kidneys. Although this was just a coincidence, Jun-ho shoots one of the guards, Number 28, dead in a fit of rage.

Jun-ho manages to sneak into the Front Man (played by Lee Byung-hun)'s office room on the island, where he discovers a vast archive of past players and winners and is surprised to find out that his brother won the games in 2015. He narrowly avoids being found by the Front Man and disguises himself as a waiter to the sadistic VIPs who watch and bet on the games. He ends up being sexually assaulted by one of them, and uses the opportunity to take him to a private room and force him at gunpoint to reveal everything he knows about the games on camera. He leaves the VIP unconscious and attempts to flee the island, convinced he has all the evidence he needs, briefly being spotted by the Front Man as he leaves.

The Front Man and the guards ultimately corner Jun-ho on a cliff, where Jun-ho identifies himself as a police officer and says that he has sent evidence of the games to his superior, despite there being no signal on the island. The Front Man is skeptical and offers to spare Jun-ho if he hands over his phone and gun and deletes the evidence. Jun-ho responds by shooting him in the shoulder and demanding to know who he is. The Front Man then removes his mask and reveals himself as his brother, In-ho. He again offers to save Jun-ho, but he refuses and In-ho aims his gun at his brother who asks, "In-ho…why?" In-ho shoots him in the shoulder, causing him to fall off the cliff and into the ocean. Later, In-ho is shown to be haunted by his brother's last words to him.

Jun-ho survives his fall off the cliff, being saved by Captain Park, a fisherman. Jun-ho, with Captain Park, has been searching for the game island for two years, without success. He has given up his job investigating major crimes and became a traffic police officer, leading him to investigate and find Gi-hun. The two talk and team up to end the game for good, as Jun-ho's superiors at the police station still do not believe the Squid Games exist due to lack of evidence. Jun-ho, along with Choi Woo-Seok, who has formed a team of mercenaries, hatch a plan to catch the Front Man. The plan fails and they plan to track Gi-hun to the game island with the tracker they implanted in him, but it is stolen from Gi-hun and they lose track of him. Jun-ho and the team search different islands. On one of them, they see a possible entrance, but it explodes when they open it. Back on the boat, Jun-ho refuses to go back until he finds the island, although Captain Park turns out to be an infiltrator and sabotages them numerous times.

The Front Man / Hwang In-ho

Hwang In-ho, also known as the Front Man and later posing as Player 001 in the second season, is the main antagonist of the Squid Game series. He is portrayed by Lee Byung-hun.

The Front Man is the initially mysterious overseer of the games. He wears a black mask and clothing and is seen watching the games unfold in lavish quarters, enjoying music and entering the game arenas only when absolutely necessary. In the 2020 games, he executes a guard for revealing his face at gunpoint. He later discovers that Jun-ho, an officer with the Korean National Police, has infiltrated the island where the games are held and impersonated a guard.

When the VIPs arrive on the island to watch the games, the Front Man stands in for the unseen "host" of the games. During the fifth game, which challenges players to cross a bridge made of regular glass and tempered glass, In-ho notices a player using his previous knowledge of glass manufacturing to inspect the panels. The Front Man turns out the lights to remove the advantage. Shortly afterward, he notices a VIP is missing and orders a search. The VIP is found unconscious, and the Front Man realizes the intruder has impersonated a waiter.

He pursues Jun-ho through the games' archives and sends several soldiers after him, eventually confronting him on a cliff, where Jun-ho reveals he is a police officer and has sent evidence of the games to his superior. The Front Man responds with skepticism, since the island is out of reach of cell phone towers, and offers to spare Jun-ho's life if he surrenders and deletes the evidence. Jun-ho refuses and shoots the Front Man in the shoulder, who then reveals himself to be In-ho, Jun-ho's older brother who had disappeared years ago after joining the games. Jun-ho assumed he had been killed, but recently discovered In-ho was actually the victor of his games.

In-ho again asks Jun-ho to come with him, but the younger brother refuses and In-ho shoots him. Jun-ho says, "
"In-ho... why?" before falling off the cliff and into the sea. Afterwards, In-ho is haunted by a vision of his brother in the mirror of his apartment, repeating the question.

When the 2020 games conclude, In-ho is next seen in a limousine with the victor, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). He congratulates Gi-hun on his victory and explains the game is essentially a horse race, then tells Gi-hun to think of the game like a dream. On December 25, 2021, following the death of the Host, Oh Il-nam, In-ho pays his respects and likely takes over his role as the Host. Some time later, Gi-hun is preparing to go to the U.S. to be with his daughter but encounters the salesman who had recruited him to the games and uses his calling card to contact the Front Man. In-ho tells him to get on the plane for his own good, but Gi-hun refuses and declares his intention to find and destroy him.

Two years later, the Front Man has become aware of Gi-hun's determined efforts to find the salesman who recruited him. He eventually confronts Gi-hun and accepts his challenge to re-enter the games in order to stop the game from the inside by proving humanity's true nature isn't toxic like what he claimed. After observing the first game where Gi-Hun directs players to survive the Red-Light Green-Light round, In-Ho eventually decides to infiltrate the games as Player 001 so that he can more easily manipulate the players and prove Gi-hun wrong.

To create warring factions among the players, the Front Man introduces voting (in favor of ending the games and splitting the money evenly or letting them continue) after each game. As Player 001, he casts the deciding vote in favor of continuing, but still manages to befriend Gi-hun and join his team. He fabricates a story, based in truth, about his reason for being in the games—his pregnant wife is desperately ill, and they are deeply in debt due to her medical bills. In the second game, In-ho fails at one of the team's tasks, seemingly on purpose to toy with the others, but still helps them to succeed by completing the task just in time. In the third game, Jung-bae witnesses In-ho savagely kill another player to save the two of them.

Before the next game begins, In-ho and Gi-hun agree not to attempt to persuade more players to their side to avoid any violence among the groups. He agrees to join Gi-hun's rebellion against the games, aiding his group in overpowering the guards and using their weapons to try to reach the control room for the games. In-ho ultimately turns on them, however, killing two other players and faking his own death, then appearing as the Front Man before Gi-hun and Jung-bae. He asks Gi-hun if he enjoyed playing the hero before executing Jung-bae.

Introduced in Season 1

Cho Sang-woo

Cho Sang-woo, also known as Player 218, is portrayed by Park Hae-soo. Sang-woo is the childhood friend of series protagonist Seong Gi-hun, and a graduate of Seoul National University. While working at an investment firm, Sang-woo stole money from his clients, suffered investment losses, and became millions of won in debt. To solve his financial problems, Sang-woo participated in the Squid Game. Initially allied with Gi-hun and several other players, he takes on a darker role as the series progresses, becoming willing to kill other players to ensure his own survival. Sang-woo was based on one of the childhood friends of series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Sang-woo and Gi-hun were based on Hwang's own personal experiences and represented "two sides" of himself; Gi-hun shared the same aspects of being raised by an economically disadvantaged single mother in the Ssangmun district of Seoul, while Sang-woo reflected on Hwang having attended Seoul National University with high expectations from his family and neighborhood.

As children, Sang-woo and Seong Gi-hun would often play children's games together, such as Squid. Sang-woo later attended Seoul National University, and graduated at the top of his class. According to Gi-hun, Sang-woo's graduation from SNU caused him to become a famous prodigy in the Ssangmun-dong neighbourhood in the city of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. After graduating from SNU, Sang-woo became the leader of an investment team at the securities company Joy Investments. He illegally siphoned money from his client's balances, then invested it in derivatives and future options which failed, resulting in the loss of 6 billion won. He also used his mother's house and store as collateral for his illegal activities. He then gets recruited to play in a series of deadly childhood games, and is re-united with Gi-hun. After learning that participants who lose are killed, Sang-woo gave Gi-hun advice on how to survive "Red Light, Green Light" by informing him that the doll is a motion sensor. After both Sang-woo and Gi-hun survive the game, the majority of players want to quit, horrified at the revelation of players who lose being killed. When the masked staff members repeat the first two contract conditions, Sang-woo took the initiative for conducting a vote among the contestants to end the Squid Game. However, he ultimately decided to continue participating when he learned that the prize money for winning was 45.6 billion won. After the games were stopped by the majority vote, his heavy debts almost led him to suicide before having been offered the chance to rejoin the Squid Game, which he accepts.

During the Squid Game, Sang-woo helped Gi-hun and others in their alliance, particularly befriending Ali Abdul. However, to ensure his own survival, he became frequently more ruthless and inconsiderate as the game progressed. Sang-woo resorted to manipulation to win the Marbles game, betraying Ali and leaving him to die. He later murdered Player 017 in the Glass Stepping Stones game. After killing Kang Sae-byeok to prevent her and Gi-hun from ending the game, Sang-woo is one of two players to make it into the final round of the competition, along with Gi-hun. The two face off in the eponymous Squid game, in which, after an intense battle between the two, Gi-hun won after Sang-woo was too weak to continue. Before claiming his victory, Gi-hun attempts to end the game by invoking clause 3 of the consent form, hoping to end the game and save his friend's life. Aware that ending the game will result in forfeiture of the prize money and leave no money for his mother, Sang-woo commits suicide by stabbing himself in the neck, allowing Gi-hun to win the game. As a final request before his death, Sang-woo asks Gi-hun to use some of the prize winnings to help his mother. Sang-woo's request to Gi-hun is fulfilled after he gives a large portion of his winnings to Sang-woo's mother, and also puts Kang Cheol (Sae-byeok's younger brother) in her care, offering both of them a better life. In Season 2, it is revealed that his mother named the fish shop after him, called "Sang Woo's Fish Store".

Park received international fame for his role as Sang-woo, and was able to gain over 800,000 Instagram followers in a single day due to the success of the series.

Kang Sae-byeok

Kang Sae-byeok, also known as Player 067, is portrayed by model Jung Ho-yeon in her acting debut. She studied for her role by practicing Hamgyŏng dialect with real North Korean defectors, watching documentaries about North Korean defectors, and learning martial arts. She also drew upon her own feelings of loneliness while modeling overseas to build the character, and wrote a daily diary from Sae-byeok's perspective.

Sae-byeok is a North Korean defector and pickpocket. She originally had grandparents, parents and an older brother, but an epidemic in her native village killed her grandparents and older brother. Her father was shot by the North Korean guards while fleeing the border into China and her mother was captured somewhere in China and repatriated back to North Korea, where she was imprisoned in a prison camp. At one point, Sae-byeok worked for gangster Jang Deok-su but later became independent from him, causing animosity between the two.

Sae-byeok agrees to participate in the Squid Game to raise enough money to help reunite her family and get her younger brother Kang Cheol out of the orphanage. Initially entering the game as a lone wolf, she later allies herself with Seong Gi-hun, who welcomes her on his team despite Sae-byeok pickpocketing him in the past, and his other teammates. She also forms an alliance with Ji-yeong, who sacrifices herself for Sae-byeok during the Marbles game. In the Glass Bridge game, Sae-byeok crosses safely but is impaled by a piece of the exploding glass. Sae-byeok becomes one of the three finalists, alongside Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo. Before the sixth and final game, Sae-byeok asks Gi-hun to look after her family if she does not make it out of the game alive. Her injury worsens, and she is killed by Sang-woo shortly afterwards to prevent Gi-hun from ending the game to save her life. After winning the game following Sang-woo's suicide, Gi-hun fulfils his promise to Sae-byeok by putting Kang Cheol in the care of Sang-woo's mother.

Although Sae-byeok does not appear in season 2 due to her death, aside from a nightmare sequence, Gi-Hun continues to watch over Kang Cheol with Sang-Woo's mother for 2 years until Gi-Hun gets a recent news of the location of Sae-byeok and Cheol's mother, who also recently escaped North Korea, in which he request the broker to contact him (or Sang-Woo's mother) in a moment of notice upon her mother's retrieval.

Jung was called ''Squid Game''s breakout star by critics. For her performance, she won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards. This nomination made her the second actress of Asian as well as Korean descent to receive an individual SAG Award nomination. Her win, along with Lee Jung-jae winning the respective male award, made history for the show becoming the first non-English language television series to win at the SAG Awards. She was also nominated along with her costars for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Oh Il-nam

Oh Il-nam, also known as Player 001, portrayed by O Yeong-su, is the overarching antagonist of Squid Game, and the primary antagonist of the first season.

Il-nam is initially presented as an elderly man with a brain tumor and dementia, who prefers playing the game than to await death in the outside world. During the game, Il-nam forms a close alliance with Gi-hun, and survives the first three games before being seemingly killed off-screen during the Marbles game, voluntarily giving his final marble to Gi-hun for safety.

However, a year after Gi-hun wins the game, it is revealed that Il-nam survived and that he was secretly the creator/host of the games, angering Gi-hun. Il-nam explains his reasoning for creating the games to Gi-hun, namely that he had lost the ability to enjoy life due to his immense wealth and lost faith in humanity, and that he decided to join this game out of boredom, knowing it would be the final one he would oversee. However, he states that he genuinely enjoyed playing the game with Gi-hun. Il-nam then dies of his cancer, but not before making a final bet with Gi-hun.

O Yeong-su won the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series in 2022 for his portrayal of Oh Il-nam.

Ali Abdul

Ali Abdul, also known as Player 199, is portrayed by Anupam Tripathi.

Ali is a Pakistani migrant worker who moved to South Korea with his wife and child, joining the games to win prize money for his family, especially after being cheated out of his earnings by his corrupt boss. Despite his hardships, Ali remains optimistic and refuses to harbor bitterness. He saves Seong Gi-hun's life during the "Red Light, Green Light" game by stopping his fall, and later forms an alliance with Gi-hun and his team. Ali survives the first three games but is killed during the Marbles game after being betrayed by Cho Sang-woo, who replaces his pouch of marbles with pebbles. Ali's death is regarded as one of the heartbreaking moments in the series, as he had become a fan favorite.

In an article for National Public Radio, Benazir Samad wrote that in Pakistan, regarding the depiction of the character, "There's no shortage of opinions."

Jang Deok-su

Jang Deok-su, also known as Player 101, is portrayed by Heo Sung-tae.

Deok-su is a ruthless gangster who entered the game to settle massive gambling debts, having an acrimonious past with Kang Sae-byeok and fallen out of favor with his crime boss. He forms and breaks alliances as needed, becoming the leader of his own faction of players, but believes it is every player for themselves during the competition, even resorting to cheating to win. Deok-su betrays allies such as Han Mi-nyeo, whom he develops a sexual relationship with, and player 278, his right-hand man. He is also directly responsible of the murder of player 271, whom he kills for extra food, after which he realizes riots are allowed during sleeping hours, resulting in the deaths of several other players. Despite his tough demeanor, Deok-su is actually a coward, and when he chickens out during the glass bridge game and refuses to go forward, threatening the lives of all players, Mi-nyeo volunteers to go forward, only to throw him through the glass bridge along with herself to their deaths in revenge for him betraying her and breaking her heart.
His character has similarities to Player 230, Choi Su-bong / Thanos / Player 230.

Heo Sung-tae, who normally plays villainous characters, gained 900,000 followers on Instagram after playing Jang Deok-su on ''Squid Game''.

Han Mi-nyeo

Han Mi-nyeo, also known as Player 212, is portrayed by Kim Joo-ryoung.

A loud, eccentric, and manipulative woman, Mi-nyeo is implied to be a con artist, though her reason for entering the games remains unknown. She claims to have had a newborn child who had neither been named or registered, but this claim is dubious. Mi-nyeo quickly adapts to the games' dynamics, initially playing selfishly like Jang Deok-su, and allies with those who offer her protection or benefits. After helping Deok-su in cheating during the ''ppopgi'' game, the two become sexually involved and Mi-nyeo joins his team. However, he expels her in favor of physically stronger male players for the tug of war game, prompting her to vow revenge and join Gi-hun's team. Mi-nyeo does not participate in the marbles game, as she lacks a partner, but is spared from elimination. When Deok-su hesitates during the glass bridge game, Mi-nyeo volunteers to go forward, only to drag Deok-su and herself to their deaths, allowing the finalists to advance and fulfilling her revenge.

Mi-nyeo became one of the most polarizing characters in the first season, although her ending received praise from viewers. Kim Joo-ryoung, who had previously worked with director Hwang Dong-hyuk on the film '' Silenced'', was personally approached for the role by Hwang, and remarked that working on ''Squid Game'' "felt like hewas dreaming".

Park Jung-bae

Park Jung-bae, also known as Player 390 in the second season, is portrayed by Lee Seo-hwan.

In the opening episode of the first season, Jung-bae is introduced as a good friend of Gi-hun with whom he gambles on horse racing together. In the second episode, he is unable to offer Gi-hun a loan or a job at the bar he runs, when his friend temporarily returns from the Squid Game, which forces Gi-hun back into the games.

In season two, Jung-bae reunites with Gi-Hun, whom he has not seen since the events of the first season, as a Squid Game participant after a divorce from his wife. He catches up with Gi-Hun as they are heading up for Red Light, Green Light, and initially does not take his warnings about the deadly nature of the games seriously. Afterward, he votes for the unsuccessful "leave" side and joins Gi-Hun's team for the following games. A former Marine, he bonds with Kang Dae-ho, another former Marine who shows him great respect. Dae-ho is recruited to Gi-Hun's team for the second game. Jung-bae completes the Biseokchigi minigame in the second game perfectly using his previous baseball experience. After the game, Jung-bae compliments Dae-ho on his Gonggi skills which prompts the latter to compliment the former due to his Biseokchigi, further solidifying the friendship between the two Marines.

Jung-bae votes to stay for the third game and is embarrassed, but has his apology accepted by the rest of the team. That night, he bonds with Gi-Hun over their participation in the Dragon Motor strike. In the final round of the Mingle game, he is saved by In-Ho, who kills another participant to bring the number of occupants in their room to the required two. He is disquieted by this, but his attempts to tell Gi-Hun and Dae-ho after switching his vote to "leave" in the third vote are interrupted by the final two votes cast.

Jung-bae participates in Gi-Hun's scheme to overwhelm the guards and try to storm the control room with the stolen weapons. He and Gi-Hun reach the stairs below the control room before they are overwhelmed by guards. Due to Gi-hun and Jung-bae running out of ammo, the betrayal of In-ho who shoots two flanking players in the back, the death of the players holding the staircase, and Dae-ho's failure to get the ammo due to his PTSD, Gi-hun and Jung-bae opt to surrender. Jung-bae is then executed by the Frontman in front of Gi-Hun as an example of what happens to those who attempt heroics.

The Guards

The Guards are a group of masked individuals in dark pink jumpsuits who work under the Front Man. They have a hierarchy system: guards with a circle on their mask are workers in charge of disposing of bodies, guards with a triangle on their mask are soldiers in charge of eliminating players, and guards with a square on their mask are managers in charge of overseeing the workers and soldiers.

Introduced in Season 2

Park Yong-sik

Park Yong-sik, also known as Player 007, is portrayed by Yang Dong-geun.

A former gambler and the son of Geum-ja. Despite his mother's warnings, he votes to continue the games in order to earn more and pay off more of his debts, but has a change of heart after almost losing her in the "mingle" game.

Jang Geum-ja

Jang Geum-ja, also known as Player 149, is portrayed by Kang Ae-shim.

Yong-sik's mother who enters the game to pay off her son's debts, unaware that her own son also participates in the game. Having raised Yong-sik as a single mother, she is a survivor of the Korean War and despite her crass dialog, is deeply caring, even welcoming the ostracized Cho Hyun-ju into her group.

Kang No-eul

Kang No-eul, also known as Guard 011, is portrayed by Park Gyu-young.

A former soldier and North Korean defector who searches for her infant daughter before joining the game as a pink-soldier. Prior to the games, she worked at an amusement park as a masked character, working alongside the struggling artist Park Gyeong-seok, who later joins the game as a contestant. She forms a bond with Park's terminally ill daughter before her hospitalization, and is therefore reluctant to harm Gyeong-seok as a guard. However, she interferes with the secret organ harvesting operation by double tapping eliminated contestants to end their suffering, until she is threatened by the operation's participants, namely the interim Frontman and some of the pink guards.

Park Gyeong-seok

Park Gyeong-seok, also known as Player 246, is portrayed by Lee Jin-wook.

A financially-strapped artist who had a daughter hospitalized for leukemia and required a bone marrow transplant. He is a former co-worker of Kang No-eul at an amusement park prior to the two joining the games. As a pink guard, No-eul is reluctant to kill Gyeong-seok due to knowing about his daughter's sickness. Gyeong-seok later joins Gi-hun's rebellion against the pink guards, but the rebellion fails and he is seemingly among those executed after surrendering. It is revealed that Gyeong-Seok is still alive shown in Season 3 trailer.

Cho Hyun-ju

Cho Hyun-ju, also known as Player 120, is portrayed by Park Sung-hoon. A former special forces sergeant and transgender woman, Hyun-ju enters the games to fund her gender-affirming surgery. After coming out, she lost her job, friends, and faced alienation from her parents. She is initially ostracized by most of the players but later gains their respect as the games progress, forming alliances mainly with Kim Young-mi, Park Yong-sik, and Yong-sik's mother Jang Geum-ja. Hyun-ju's military background plays a crucial role in Gi-hun's rebellion, as she trains the fighters to use submachine guns stolen from the pink guards. She evades the pink guards' reinforcements by retreating to find the panicked Kang Dae-ho, becoming one of only three rebels to survive the failed riot alongside Dae-ho and the captured Gi-hun.

Prior to the season's release, the casting of Park Sung-hoon as the transgender ex-soldier Hyun-ju sparked controversy. Critics contended that the role should have been portrayed by a transgender actress to authentically represent the experience, with many expressing dissatisfaction over the casting of a cisgender actor, particularly a cisgender man, instead of a cisgender woman. In response, some pointed out that South Korea's conservative stance on LGBT rights made it difficult to find a transgender actress willing to take on such a high-profile role. Others emphasized that the inclusion of a transgender character in a South Korean series represented a significant step toward greater representation. On December 18, 2024, during a press day for ''Squid Game 2'', director and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk addressed his intent to include a transgender character in the series:

"The people who come to join the games in Squid Game are usually marginalized or neglected from society, and not just financially speaking, but people who would belong to marginalized groups. In season one, the representative character for that was Ali, who was a foreigner working in Korea, which is one of the most representative minority groups in Korea. Currently today, unfortunately, in the Korean society the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society. I wanted to create a character that would represent that. Acceptance of trans people has gotten better recently, but it's still not where it needs to be. In Korea, when you are a gender minority, it is not as widely accepted yet, unfortunately, and you are still seen to be very much out of the norm. And so by creating a character like Hyun-ju, through her choices, her actions, and the way she carries herself in the game, I hope that that could raise awareness of these issues that we face today."

Park Sung-hoon's portrayal of Hyun-ju won significant praise from critics. Many viewers regarded Hyun-ju as one of the most compelling characters of the second season, citing the character's development and backstory, as well as Park's dedication and depth in the role.

Lee Myung-gi

Lee Myung-gi, also known as Player 333, is portrayed by Im Si-wan.

A former YouTuber known as "MG Coin" who lost money as a result of a failed crypto investment he made and recommended to his followers, and is Jun-hee's ex-boyfriend and the father of her child. Several of the other contestants, including Jun-hee and Thanos, also lost their life savings as a result of following Myung-gi's ill-fated advice and vow revenge on him, though he reminds them they were responsible for heeding his advice and not selling at the right time. He becomes protective over Jun-hee as the games go on, despite her initial protests, and he kills Thanos in a brawl due to the latter's continued threats and desire to continue the games at the risk of harming Jun-hee and her baby.

Kim Jun-hee

Kim Jun-hee, also known as Player 222, is portrayed by Jo Yu-ri.

Myung-gi's pregnant ex-girlfriend who lost her money buying Myung-gi's crypto and is looking for a way to make a living for her child. Jun-hee is vengeful of Myung-gi at first for his apparent scam and for deserting her when she became pregnant, but after he saves her life in several instances and stands up for her, begins to forgive him despite keeping her guard up. She later convinces Myung-gi not to go along with Gi-hun's armed rebellion. In addition to Myung-gi, several other players, such as Gi-hun's team, Jang Geum-ja and her team, and even In-ho, are protective of her due to her pregnancy. Despite her condition, Jun-hee is surprisingly agile and resourceful. She also states she has no family left.

Kang Dae-ho

Kang Dae-ho, also known as Player 388, is portrayed by Kang Ha-neul.

A former Marine who teams up with Gi-hun's group and immediately develops a rapport with Jung-bae due to both men having served in the Marines.

He was the youngest child and only son in his family among four older sisters. During the second game, Dae-ho plays the ''gonggi'', which initially was questioned by Jung-bae who asks "You? A former Marine?" but after Dae-ho explains he used to play it with his sisters, Jung-bae supports him by saying that there is nothing a Marine cannot do. After the end of the second game, Jung-bae compliments Dae-ho due to how skilled he was back then, and Dae-ho compliments Jung-bae right back due to him also being skilled at ''biseokchigi''.

As the season unfolds, Dae-ho mentions that his father served in the Vietnam War and made him join the Marines to "man up". Despite his gung-ho demeanor, Dae-ho suffers an acute stress reaction while supporting Gi-hun's rebellion and freezes up when retrieving ammunition for the rebels, which in part causes it to fail.

Supporting characters

Introduced in Season 1

The Recruiter

The Recruiter, also known as the Salesman, is portrayed by Gong Yoo. His appearances in the first and second seasons, though brief, received positive reviews from fans on social media.

The unnamed recruiter, dressed invariably in a suit and equipped with a suitcase containing cash and ''ddakji'' tiles, is responsible for recruiting players for the games. He seeks out vulnerable individuals and invites them to play ''ddakji'', offering ₩100,000 for a win but claims the same amount if he wins. Players who lose can opt for another round but must accept a slap as the penalty. Upon winning, players receive the cash as well as an invitation card featuring a phone number. Those interested in higher-stakes games can call the number and provide their name and birthdate to confirm their entry and pickup.

In Season 2, Gi-hun hires his former loan shark, Kim, and his lackeys to locate both the Recruiter and the games' Front Man. After two years of fruitless searching, Kim and his associate Choi Woo-seok find and attempt to apprehend the Recruiter, but he overpowers and abducts the pair. He forces them to play a deadly combination of rock paper scissors and Russian roulette, resulting in Kim's death. Gi-hun confronts the Recruiter at the former's base, leading to a tense round of Russian roulette between them. During the round, the Recruiter reveals he executed his own father, a player, during his time as a soldier in the games, and derides Gi-hun and all players as "trash". Gi-hun counters by calling the Recruiter a mere pawn of the game's organizers. Stung by this remark, the Recruiter pulls the trigger on a fatal turn, taking his own life. Before his death, he leaves an invitation card in his jacket for Gi-hun to meet the Front Man.

Kim Jeong-rae

Kim Jeong-rae, also known as simply Mr. Kim and initially credited as "Loan Shark Leader", is portrayed by Kim Pub-lae.

In season 1, Mr. Kim is Seong Gi-hun's loan shark, and he threatens to sell the latter's organs should he continue to not pay off his massive debts. After Gi-hun is able to pay them off prior to the events of season 2, Kim believes Gi-hun's story about the Squid Game, having lost track of many others indebted to him, and eagerly joins Gi-hun's efforts to hunt down the games' organizers due to being short on money himself. Kim and his associate Choi Woo-seok are overpowered and abducted by the Recruiter after attempting to capture him, and when forced to play a deadly combination of rock paper scissors and Russian roulette, Kim throws the game to spare Woo-seok, whose wedding he officiated and considered a close friend, and is killed by the Recruiter.

Ji-yeong

Ji-yeong, also known as Player 240, is portrayed by Lee Yoo-mi. Prior to her joining the games, Ji-yeong was an ex-convict who was recently released from jail for the murder of her abusive father, who was an alcoholic pastor and the killer of her mother.

During the game, Ji-yeong forms an alliance with Kang Sae-byeok. In the Marbles game, after a conversation about their pasts, Ji-yeong decides to sacrifice herself so Sae-byeok can advance further in the game, believing she has more of a reason to win than her.

Byeong-gi

Byeong-gi, also known as Player 111 or "The Doctor", is portrayed by Yoo Sung-joo. He is a disgraced doctor who conspires with some of the Masked Men to harvest the organs of deceased or nearly dead players in exchange for extra food and leaked information on the upcoming games. He also joins Jang Deok-su's gang and provides them the information. When the guards fail to get him information, Byeong-gi goes on a rampage and kills a guard in an attempt to escape. As a result, he is killed alongside the guards he worked with by the Front Man, and their bodies are hung for display prior to the Marbles game to make an example out of them for cheating. In season two, the staff comment on how they hired doctors specifically for the organ procurement instead of relying on one of the participants.

Introduced in Season 2

Choi Su-bong / Thanos

Choi Su-bong, also known as Player 230 or by his stage name Thanos, is portrayed by Choi Seung-hyun, better known as the rapper T.O.P. In the series, Thanos is a rapper struggling with a drug problem, which he uses to calm his nerves during the games. His stage name is based on the Marvel supervillain of the same name.

As one of Lee Myung-gi's followers who lost their money, Thanos relentlessly hounds Myung-gi and vows to make him pay. He reveals that he was on the brink of suicide before receiving an invitation card at the bridge where he had planned to jump. Thanos is otherwise portrayed as a carefree and boastful character, unaware of the consequences of his actions, though he becomes embittered toward players who wish to end the games.

After the third voting session, Thanos taunts Myung-gi and threatens to kill him and woo his girlfriend, Kim Jun-hee, if he continues to vote for ending the games; this leads to a fistfight between the two men, which escalates into a brawl in the men's bathroom, resulting in the deaths of five players. Thanos nearly strangles Myung-gi to death but is ultimately killed by him using a fork saved from the day's meal.

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk praised T.O.P. for his courage in returning to the public spotlight after a nine-year hiatus and for portraying a character facing personal challenges akin to those T.O.P. had encountered in his own life, stating, "Despite the long hiatus, I have to say, as a director, he performed very impressively and I'm very satisfied with what he did with the character."

Nam-gyu

Nam-gyu, also known as Player 124, is portrayed by Roh Jae-won.

Nam-gyu is among those who lost millions while following Lee Myung-gi's advice. He is Thanos' right-hand man, and does not get along with Se-mi and Min-su, though Thanos sticks up more for the latter. Like Thanos, he has given hatred towards Myung-gi and Se-mi and also desires killing in order to survive the games. Nam-gyu also partakes in the drugs Thanos uses and becomes hostile to those willing to end the games early, such as Myung-gi, Se-mi, and Min-su. After Thanos is killed by Myung-gi during a brawl, Nam-gyu retrieves Thanos's drugs and kills several X-team members, including Se-mi, in revenge.

Se-mi

Se-mi, also known as Player 380, is portrayed by Won Ji-an.

A tomboyish young woman, she allies herself with Min-su, trusting him due to his meek nature, and Thanos and his crew, believing she can manipulate them. However, all of her allies, even Min-su, end up deserting her at some point, and she is killed by Nam-gyu, Thanos' right hand man, during the O-team's riot to kill as many X-team members as possible.

Park Min-su

Park Min-su, also known as Player 125, is portrayed by Lee David.

A shy, timid young man, Min-su is initially allied with Se-mi, and the two later join forces with Thanos and his crew despite the latter's disgust at them, believing she can manipulate them. Se-mi initially trusts Min-su, believing he would be loyal to her due to his meek nature, but he is easily manipulated by Thanos and Nam-gyu and betrays Se-mi during the Mingle game due to not having the courage to stand up for her. Despite being pressured to continue the games by Thanos after "Mingle", Min-su eventually stands up for his own principles and votes to end the games. Thanos and Nam-gyu continue to pressure him, leading to a brawl that kills Thanos, and during the O-team's revenge riot, Min-su tries to protect Se-mi from Nam-gyu by dropping a glass bottle on the latter, but fails, resulting in Se-mi's death as Min-su hides in fear afterward.

Gyeong-su

Gyeong-su, also known as Player 256, is portrayed by Kang Sung-wook.

Gyeong-su is a massive fan of Thanos and joins his crew during the Pentathlon game. Likewise with the rest of Thanos' team, he votes "O" to continue. During "Mingle" Thanos, high on ecstasy, kicks Gyeong-su out of the team due to the rooms requiring 4 players, resulting in Gyeong-su's death, which Thanos would react in shock and horror to.

Kim Young-mi

Kim Young-mi, or Player 095, is portrayed by Kim Si-eun. Timid and reserved, she is the first player to ally with and befriend Cho Hyun-ju, accepting her regardless of her gender identity. The two, along with Park Yong-sik and Yong-sik's mother, Jang Geum-ja, become allies. During the "Mingle" game, Young-mi becomes separated from the group after colliding with another player. Unable to reach the group's room in time, she is eliminated and executed, much to Hyun-ju's dismay, as she had tried to save Young-mi but was prevented by Lee Myung-gi to avoid further elimination of the remaining players in the room.

Im Jeong-dae

Im Jeong-dae, also known as Player 100, is portrayed by Song Young-chang.

Jeong-dae is a brash, greedy, middle-aged man who is revealed to owe 10 billion won in debt, nearly a quarter of the promised prize money. Initially coming to Gi-hun for his advice, he turns on him when the second game is revealed not to be Dalgona as Gi-hun remembers. Jeong-dae bullies and intimidates other players, especially X-team members, and sees little value in the lives of the other players, being mostly concerned with winning as much money as possible from the games. Despite this, his charisma allows him to convince many other players to keep playing and join his side, thus becoming one of the loudest voices on the O-team.

Seon-nyeo

Seon-nyeo, also known as Player 044, is portrayed by Chae Kook-hee.

A loudmouthed, self-proclaimed shaman who likes to talk about peoples' destined deaths. She teams up with Hyun-Ju, Yong-sik, Geum-ja, and Young-mi in the second game and nearly costs them their lives by fumbling with the flying top before Hyun-Ju forces her to focus. In the second round of the Mingle game, she is abandoned by her former teammates as the odd person out and develops a grudge and wish to see them die in the games, which converts at least one person to switch sides to the O-team.

Kang Mi-na

Kang Mi-na, also known as Player 196, is portrayed by Song Ji-woo. Revealed to be 45 million won in debt, she otherwise has a carefree, vain demeanor. Mi-na catches Thanos' attention prior to the first game and he flirts with her, and the two of them do not take Gi-hun's warnings seriously during "red light, green light". During a red light, Mi-na panics and unfreezes when Thanos tells her there is a bee on her. She is subsequently shot and eliminated, becoming the first player to die in this year's games and causing the other players to realize Gi-hun's warnings were true.

Choi Woo-seok

Choi Woo-seok, portrayed by Jeon Seok-ho, is a member of Mr. Kim's loan shark group. He is close with his boss who officiated his wedding and is partnered with him in the search for the Recruiter in the season two opener. After trailing the Recruiter, he is captured alongside Mr. Kim and forced to play a game combining rock paper scissors and Russian roulette. After surviving the first few rounds and then falling into a pattern of picking the same hand, Woo-seok throws two rocks, which prompts Mr. Kim to sacrifice himself to save Woo-seok. Woo-seok is later freed from the Recruiter by Gi-hun and eagerly joins him in vendetta against the game organizers to get revenge for Mr. Kim. He joins Jun-ho, Captain Park, and the mercenaries in their naval trips to try and find the island. In the final episode of season two, he stumbles upon Park after he has killed their drone operator, but falls for the excuse that the noises he heard were falling boxes.

Captain Park

Captain Park, portrayed by Oh Dal-su, is a fishing boat captain who saved Hwang Jun-ho after he narrowly escaped from the Front Man in season 1. Park spends the year and a half after Jun-ho wakes from his coma helping him find the location of the games, free of cost, by taking him to islands near where Park picked him up. In the first episode of season two, when Jun-ho declares the search hopeless, Park offers to hire him as a squid fisherman. When Jun-ho resumes the search upon teaming up with Gi-hun's mercenaries and the loan shark Choi Woo-seok, Park lets them use his ship. In the season finale, the team's drone pilot discovers him sabotaging the drone, prompting Park, actually working for the Front Man, to stab him and throw him overboard. He is nearly discovered by Woo-seok, but persuades him that the sounds he heard were falling boxes.

Park Mal-soon

Park Mal-soon, who was Hwang Jun-ho's mother and also Hwang In-ho's stepmother, was portrayed by Lee Joo-sil. Lee died at the age of 80 in February 2025, before the release of Squid Game season 3.

A warm-hearted and caring mother, Mal-soon was concerned for the well-being of both her son and stepson, and felt sad and guilty for not being able to help In-ho to save his pregnant wife, who died of liver failure before she could find a suitable donor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squid Game characters
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Lists of drama television characters
Lists of horror television characters
Fictional South Korean people