It’s almost certain that Squid Game season 2 will happen at Netflix, and if it does, the show would do best to include a significant time jump after the end of season 1. Although a season 2 wasn’t necessarily planned at first, Squid Game’s immense popularity and record-breaking success has opened up possibilities for many different stories to be explored in a potential second chapter. The ending of Squid Game season 1 certainly leaves plenty of storylines hanging, but the show might actually be better off by taking a time jump before the start of season 2.
Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said that he intended the ending of season 1 to be a potential stopping point for the entire series, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any lingering mysteries. The nature of the evil organization behind the games, the backstory of the shocking Front Man reveal, and Gi-hun’s apparent intention to bring it all down are all things that could and should be explored in Squid Game season 2. While all those plotlines could be explored in the immediate wake of the events of season 1, it would be more interesting to shift the narrative angle a bit.
If Squid Game season 2 begins a significant amount of time after the end of season 1 – even if it’s just a year or so – it would help to preserve the sense of mystery and intrigue that’s made the series so popular. Following Gi-hun on his vendetta quest could be exciting, but it would also be a very different show – one that wouldn’t be at all focused on the games themselves, which are Squid Game’s defining feature. Instead, the story of Squid Game season 2 could follow a new group of players entering the games sometime after the events of season 1.
Starting off Squid Game season 2 with a time jump would add immediate dramatic weight to the show. It would make Gi-hun’s fate a mystery – something to be explored and revealed over the course of the season. Similarly, it would maintain the mystique around the organization, rather than turning it into just some evil group of villains to be defeated. In this way, Squid Game season 2 could have two levels of intrigue – what will happen to the new group of contestants, and what did happen to the characters from season 1.
The costume design of Squid Game makes this time jump structure even more interesting. Because everyone in the organization wears a mask, older characters could be worked into the story in secret. For instance, Gi-hun could infiltrate the organization as one of the guards, with his true identity only being revealed several episodes in. Similar intrigue could be built up around the Front Man twist and the possible survival of Jun-ho. If Squid Game season 2 picks up right where season 1 leaves off, a lot of those questions will be immediately answered, but if the show chose to incorporate a time jump instead, it would preserve the compelling structure of season 1 while also continuing the series’ best mysteries.