Squid Game Season 3 Teaser Reveals the Return of Controversial Characters

Squid Game season 2 had everything fans of the first season wanted to see again and then some. Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) return to the titular games as Player 456 featured a fresh batch of deadly schoolyard contests, the evolution of old enemies like “Front Man” Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), and a new crop of desperate individuals looking to survive capitalism’s violent machine.

There was, however, one element that didn’t quite make its way into season 2’s seven episodes and it’s perhaps one some Squid Game viewers were happy to see left on the cutting room floor. Those same viewers then might need a content warning before the watching the first full trailer for Squid Game season 3. Give it a watch below and see if you clock what we mean.

That’s right: the VIPs are back, baby – silly masks, stilted voice acting (we assume), arch dialogue, and all. For those who blissfully don’t recall, the masked “VIPs” of Squid Game were the anonymous uber-rich individuals for whom the games were designed to entertain. After viewing the games remotely for the first few contests, they arrive at the island for the bridge-crossing event and remain there through the end, offering up dreadful commentary throughout.

Amid the excellent action, production design, and characterization of season 1, the VIPs stuck out as weak links – mostly due to the aforementioned silly dialogue and voice acting. After writing a full season’s worth of plot for a Korean-language audience, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t have the most natural approach for English-language speaking characters. Writing for Den of Geek, pop culture expert and Korean culture journalist Kayti Burt noted:

“The phenomenon of bad foreign-language acting is not specific to Squid Game, nor is specific to Korea. It’s logical to assume that any country’s entertainment industry would have a harder time casting good actors in a language that is not native to that country, especially when you think about how that pool is further diminished by work visa requirements.“

Thankfully, Squid Game season 3 might have some better luck with its VIPs. Following the success of season 1, the talent pool for English-speaking actors undoubtedly expanded for the production. Additionally, Hwang introduced a character in season 2, Thanos, who liked to pepper his language with some English aphorisms and phrases. The demographic of the VIP base even looks different this time around, with at least two masked women joining the proceedings. And yes: the internet is already down bad for them.

Even if Squid Game season 3 isn’t able to fix its VIP problem, however, this trailer makes clear that so much will be going on that viewers will hardly even notice. Elsewhere in this minute-long clip we get a tease of a new game (involving a gum ball machine that will likely separate players into doomed pairs a la “marbles”), Jun-ho’s arrival on the island to (hopefully) save the day, and, most horrifyingly, the cries of a freshly-born infant.

One shudder’s to think of the puns a VIP can generate regarding the introduction of a baby into the games.

Squid Game season 3 premieres Friday, June 27 on Netflix.

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