Netflix is organizing a real Squid Game series, which has been named “the biggest reality race ever.”
The streamer announced a reality TV production based on its global anti-utopia at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday.
Although the stakes will not be life or death (probably), Squid Game: The Challenge will have 456 players competing in a series of games for the chance to win $ 4.56 million. Netflix claims that the payout is the biggest one-time cash prize in television history (although Fox’s X Factor has previously awarded $ 5 million in recording contracts) and that the show also includes the largest racing series ever collected. .
“Squid Game took the world by storm [director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s] captivating history and iconic images, “said Brandon Rigg, Netflix’s vice president of unsigned and documentary series. “We are grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this large-scale competition and social experiment. Fans of the drama series are on a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real-world racers navigate the biggest race series ever, full of suspense and twists, with the biggest cash prize at the end.
The announcement was made at the festival by the head of the global television Bela Bajaria on the streamer during a panel moderated by the editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter Nekessa Mumbi Moody.
The reality contest will consist of 10 episodes (one more than the first season of the drama series) and also released a teaser video:
The announcement comes after Netflix officially renewed Squid Game for a second season. The debut season of the South Korean survival drama was released in September and holds the record as the most popular Netflix series of all time, garnering more than 1.65 billion hours of views in the first 28 days. The recently released fourth season of Stranger Things ranks as the second most watched on the streamer.
The idea of making a realistic version of Squid Game may be pointless and obvious enough for someone to have done it already – YouTube star MrBeast has created an unofficial Squid Game competition that has garnered more than 250 million views since it was released in November. . The 25-minute video was praised by Hwang (“I watched part of it, I liked it, it helped me promote the show,” he said), while Netflix did not comment.
Squid Game Casting: The challenge is now open to apply to SquidGameCasting.com. Netflix is looking for contestants from all over the world, but they must be English-speaking – perhaps a controversial term, given that the original series was almost entirely in Korean. The rule of language is pragmatic, as the instructions for the game are given through a loudspeaker and each player must be able to understand what is being said. Players have the right to speak other languages as long as they can speak and understand English. If the show is a success, other language versions can be produced, just as Netflix reality shows like The Circle and Love is Blind have been adapted for different countries.
The production will be especially difficult, as the producers will not know who will survive in advance and therefore must receive sufficient coverage of all 456 contestants in the early stages of the game to make an edit that follows all the “protagonists” of the show. The challenges will be inspired by the drama series, but there will be differences and additions to keep players unprepared.
Squid Game tells the story of a divorced father and gambler (Lee Jung-jae) who takes part in a secret competition in which 456 players compete in a series of playground games such as tug of war. The losers of each round are executed until only one winner remains.
It is not yet clear how the $ 4.56 million reality show will be distributed. Will the payout winner get everything like in the drama series? Or will the funds be distributed among a number of finalists, as in other competitions with a large number of players such as the World Series of Poker?
The challenge is a co-production between Studio Lambert (The Circle) and The Garden (24 Hours at A&E), part of ITV Studios, and will be shot in the UK. Stephen Lambert, Tim Harcourt and Tony Ireland of Studio Lambert; and John Hay, Nicola Hill and Nicola Brown of The Garden will be executive producers.
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