Squid Game season 2 should be a Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) prequel. Released in September 2021, the South Korean series has quickly become a fan-favorite, climbing the Netflix charts all over the world. Now, it has officially become the streaming giant's biggest show ever. No official word yet on Squid Game season 2, but it's difficult to believe that the digital platform wouldn't order another year considering how massively successful it is.
From writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the project was actually around a decade in the making. It was only in 2019 that Netflix took interest in the script and greenlit the show. Inspired by South Korea's penchant for game shows, Squid Game centers on a group of people competing for a large amount of money by playing traditional children's games. It has a deadly twist, however — those who fail are killed ruthlessly. The narrative's primary protagonist is Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who ultimately wins the whole game. But aside from his and his fellow contestants' stories, it also has a compelling subplot. It involves the game's facilitator known as the Front Man who happens to be policeman Hwang Jun-ho's (Wi Ha-joon) missing brother, Hwang In-h0.
Director Hwang maintains that he doesn't have any plans for a sequel at this point. This is despite Squid Game's ending clearly setting up a narrative continuation where Gi-hun goes after the VIPs in the hopes of shutting down the underground death game. But while everyone wants to know how this will pan out, Squid Game season 2 is better off tackling Front Man's backstory instead. Aside from his identity and his initial ties to the game, not much has been revealed about In-ho thus far. It's unknown how he transitioned from being the 2015 Squid Game winner to essentially taking on the Front Man's identity as Oh Il-nam's (O Yeong-su) right-hand-man. And now that the old man is dead, chances are that he would take his place as the event's overall manager. This sets up his confrontation with Gi-hun; however, tackling this right away in the sequel isn’t really logical in terms of the show’s sustainability.
Once the Squid Game season 2 resolves the burgeoning conflict between the men, the show is effectively over, and considering its popularity, Netflix doesn’t want that. There are limited options for season 3 that won’t make it feel repetitive or veer too far away from its premise. Through a Front Man prequel, the show can tackle how exactly he won the competition. Depending on how they want to approach this, the story could introduce an entirely new slate of games and ensemble cast with In-ho's Front Man as its focal point. Even if viewers already know that he would ultimately become the winner, it's still a compelling and interesting narrative to tell as it could explain what drove him to take the job as Front Man. Unlike the VIPs, he's not rich, and as someone who had gone through the horrible experience, surely he had some grudges as Gi-hun does.
It’s a possibility that there's a bigger story at play with regard to In-ho's decision to be the Front Man. It's worth noting that Lee has a reputation for playing good guys who are forced down a dark path out of necessity. His role in the Korean drama Iris could serve as an inspiration for In-ho's future arc; in the series, he's a skilled South Korean operative who was framed by his own country and worked with the North Koreans for his survival. Perhaps after winning Squid Game, In-ho was coerced to serve as the game's facilitator, which left him without a choice. Otherwise, it's also possible that he willingly re-entered the operations as the Front Man in the hopes of taking it down. But instead of being forthright about it like Gi-hun, he's playing the long game.
Squid Game season 2 establishing In-ho's character would help set up a better face-off between him and Gi-hun. Regardless of what their dynamic would be in the future, at this point, they are the two main characters of the show. After the show explored Gi-hun's life, it's time In-ho also gets the same treatment.