Every Player In Squid Game Season 2 Explained

Warning! This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Squid Game season 2.

Since all players, except Gi-hun, from Squid Game season 1’s central games die, the show’s season 2 features a whole new set of intriguing players. Like season 1, Squid Game season 2 primarily divides its players into two categories: rootable and antagonistic. While almost all players in the two Squid Game seasons seem morally ambiguous, some manage to retain their sense of humanity even when the games push them beyond their breaking points and force them to act selfishly.

Meanwhile, there are several others who try their best to take advantage of the games’ setting to project their worst tendencies. Instead of finding a way to leave the games to ensure no innocent lives are lost, the Squid Game villains stick around to earn more. This division between the relatively righteous players and the selfish ones becomes one of the primary conflicts in the series. While the overarching villains are the mysterious VIPs who run and watch the games from behind the scenes, the players in Squid Game‘s two seasons are responsible for driving the central moral battle.

18

Player 456 (Seong Gi-hun)

Lee Jung-jae

Lee Jung-jae plays the main character, Gi-hun, in Squid Game seasons 1 and 2. While his circumstances lead him to the games in season 1, he intentionally arrives at the games’ venue in season 2 to stop them. Even though he makes provisions before the games to ensure he and his team overpower the forces running the games and even plants a tracker in one of his teeth to help his team find him, the game’s organizers manage to stay a step ahead of him.

They remove the tracker in his tooth before taking him to the game’s venue, leaving him to his own devices again. Gi-hun still tries his best to use his experience to help other players at the games, but his good intentions backfire when many grow suspicious about his motives. Gi-hun still does not give up and formulates a plan to overpower the guards and wage war against the authorities running the games in Squid Game season 2.

17

Player 390 (Jung-bae)

Lee Seo-hwan

When Gi-hun makes his way to the venue of the first “Red Light, Green Light” game in Squid Game season 2’s opening arc, someone calls out his name. Moments later, Lee Seo Hwan’s Jung-bae emerges from the crowd, which surprises Gi-hun because he and Jung-bae have a long history. The Lee Seo Hwan character first appeared in Squid Game season 1 as Gi-hun’s close friend.

Season 2 establishes that, like Gi-hun, Jung-bae, too, gambled his fortune away. Without truly understanding how the games work, he, too, arrives to play them, hoping to win some money to pay off his debt. Fortunately, for him, Gi-hun ensures his safety by guiding him through the first game. Although Jung-bae takes time to realize the games are not worth the risk of his life, he eventually becomes Gi-hun’s biggest accomplice as he and the other heroes set out to punish the game’s organizers.

16

Player 388 (Dae-ho)

Kang Ha-neul

Jung-bae and Dae-ho find common ground in Squid Game season 2’s early moments when they learn they both served in the Marine Corps. Dae-ho also refers to Jung-bae as his senior and plays a crucial role in helping the main heroes win many games. However, Dae-ho’s story takes a dark turn towards the end of the season when he struggles to use a gun against the guards. His inability to operate a weapon suggests he might have lied about his military background.

Many players like Kyung-seok also lose their lives because Dae-ho fails to bring them the ammunition to fight back.

Dae-ho also takes the responsibility of collecting loaded magazines from the dead guards and bringing them back to his fellow players in the show’s finale. However, his fear gets the best of him, and he never goes back to fighting the guards. Due to his inability to follow through with his commitments, Gi-hun and the team lose their battle against the guards. Many players like Kyung-seok also lose their lives because Dae-ho fails to bring them the ammunition to fight back.

15

Player 380 (Se-mi)

Won Ji-an

Player 380, Se-mi, intentionally joins Thanos’ team because she believes playing the games with less intelligent team members would improve her odds of survival. She thinks she would be able to outsmart all her team members by manipulating them when necessary. However, to her dismay, nothing goes as planned and the player, Min-su, whom she trusts the most, ends up betraying her.

14

Player 333 (Lee Myeong-gi)

Yim Si-wan

Player 333, Lee Myeong-gi, confronts the guards before the beginning of the games in Squid Game season 2’s episode 3 by asking them to return his wallet and phone. When he claims to have invested a lot of money in the stock market, the guards expose him by disclosing how he ran a YouTube channel named MG Coin and made his subscribers invest in a crypto coin that caused losses of approximately 15.2 billion won. This makes him a target for other competitors like Thanos and Nam-gyu, who had also put their money in his coin.

As the Squid Game season progresses, it is also revealed Lee Myeong-gi’s former lover, Kim Jun-hui (Player 222), is also at the games. After learning that Jun-hui is pregnant, Myeong-gi tries to convince her to quit the games and start a new life with him. However, after recalling how he abandoned her, Jun-hui struggles to trust him.

13

Player 246 (Kyung-seok)

Lee Jin-wook

Park Gyu-young’s No-Eul is portrayed as one of the guards in the central game, who, before taking up the job, crosses paths with a child battling cancer. When she arrives at the games to fulfill her role as a guard, she spots the child’s father, Kyung-seok, during the first “Red Light, Green Light” game. This revelation confirms that Player 246, Kyung-seok, only showed up to compete because he wishes to win enough money to be able to fund his daughter’s treatment. Like the other heroic characters, he avoids resorting to morally questionable methods to survive the games.

12

Player 230 (Thanos)

T.O.P

Real-life rapper and singer, T.O.P, plays the role of a famous retired artist, dubbed Thanos, in Squid Game season 2. Like most other characters, Thanos initially does not take the games too seriously. However, when he finally understands the gravity of the games and the stakes involved, he takes psychedelic drugs to take the edge off and keep himself calm and collected. Although his approach makes him a little too detached from reality, it works wonders as it allows him to play the games with a relaxed and childish sense of wonder.

T.O.P’s real name is Choi Seung Hyun, and he is best known for being a member of the Korean boy band Big Bang.

Thanos keeps blaming Yim Si Wan (Player 333) for his financial downfall, claiming that he invested all his money in a coin he suggested on his YouTube channel. He also keeps picking on him throughout the games and threatens him to return his money once they are outside. This conflict eventually escalates into chaos as brutal physical confrontation breaks loose between the ones who voted in favor of the games’ continuation and the ones who voted to stop them in the second round of voting.

11

Player 222 (Kim Jun-hui)

Jo Yu-ri

Player 222, Kim Jun-hui, is introduced as a young pregnant woman who ends up becoming a part of the games after her former partner, Lee Myeong-gi, abandons her. Jun-hui is perceived as a weak contestant by many because of her condition, but the main heroes take her on board. Later in the series, Lee Myeong-gi also tries to get back with her, claiming they should combine their earnings from the games and create a good life for their child. However, Jun-hui refuses to share her winnings with her ex because she does not trust him anymore.

10

Player 196

Song Ji-woo

Thanos is smitten with Player 196 in Squid Game season 2’s early moments and tags along with her during the “Red Light, Green Light” game. The two even joke about Gi-hun’s behavior and call him a disillusioned old man. Owing to this, when a bee lands on Player 196’s neck, and Thanos tells her about it, she forgets about the game and moves. Although she still refuses to take the game seriously, the doll detects her movement, and a sniper shoots her dead. With this, Player 196 becomes the first player to die in Squid Game season 2.

9

Player 149 (Jang Geum-ja)

Kang Ae-shim

Unlike other players at the games, Kang Ae-shim’s Jang Geum-ja is not driven by a desire to increase her bank balance. She only arrives at the games’ to ensure her son’s well-being. Jang Geum-ja is such a selfless mother that she even encourages her son, Park Yong-sik, to leave, assuring him that she will play the games and win him the money. As the show progresses, she becomes a motherly figure for many other characters, like Kim Jun-hui and Hyun-ju, as she guides them through dire situations.

8

Player 125 (Min-su)

David Lee

Se-mi approaches Min-su and asks him to join forces with her during Squid Game season 2’s first team event. Moments later, Thanos asks Se-mi to join his team and is also forced to have Min-su on board. Se-mi later reveals that she asked Min-su to be on her team because she believed he was too timid and innocent to betray her. However, to her surprise, Min-su proves her wrong by abandoning her during the Mingle game. In season 2’s final arc, Min-su also goes against Thanos and Nam-gyu by joining the people who want the games to end.

7

Player 124 (Nam-gyu)

Noh Jae-won

After surviving the first game in Squid Game season 2, Player 124, Nam Gyu, approaches Thanos, requesting him to share his psychedelic pills. Thanos warns him that someone like him will not be able to handle the pills. However, Nam Gyu assures Thanos that he has done a fair share of drugs while working as the managing director of a nightclub in the past. Thanos eventually agrees to share his pills with him, which makes the two allies in the games.

Enjoying the games gives the two characters a significant edge, allowing them to face the challenges with a sense of detachment and fearlessness.

While other players remain tense, Nam-gyu and Thanos approach all games with a child-like wonder because the pills help them calm their nerves. Enjoying the games gives the two characters a significant edge, allowing them to face the challenges with a sense of detachment and fearlessness. With Thanos, Nam-gyu, too, bullies Lee Myeong-gi almost throughout the Squid Game season before Myeong-gi reaches the end of his wits and fights back.

6

Player 120 (Hyun-ju)

Park Sung-hoon

Best known for his roles in Queen of Tears and The Glory, Park Sung-hoon plays a transgender woman, Hyun Ju, in Squid Game season 2. Hyun-ju arrives at the games to gather enough wealth to afford her gender-affirming operation. Despite wanting to win the games like the other contestants, she shows compassion toward other players and helps Gi-hun save a man’s life in the first “Red Light, Green Light” game. Hyun-ju also has a background in Special Forces, which comes in handy when Gi-hun and the heroes wage war against the games’ authorities.

5

Player 100

Song Young-chang

When the players turn hostile towards the guards before the games begin in Squid Game season 2’s episode 3, the guards expose them by showing how deep they are drowning in debt. They play a video clip that reveals how much each player needs to win to be debt-free. While many players have millions and even billions of won in debt, Player 100 beats them all with his shocking 10-billion won debt.

Related

Squid Game Season 1 Ending Explained

What happened during the ending of Netflix’s survival drama Squid Game? Who won the final game, who was behind the game, and what does it all mean?

Instead of feeling guilty about his negative net worth, Player 100 proudly flexes that not everyone gets that big of an amount in debt. Later in the season, Player 100 becomes somewhat of a leading figure for the players who wish to stick around and play instead of leaving the games. He keeps insisting they must play another game because he has a heavy debt to pay.

4

Player 095 (Young-mi)

Kim Shi-eun

Hyun-ju struggles to find team members before Squid Game season 2’s first team event. However, to her surprise, Player 095, Young-mi, innocently approaches her and asks them if she will team up with her. With this, Young-mi and Hyun-ju instantly become close friends and do everything they can to protect one another. Unfortunately, their companionship is short-lived because Young-mi gets left behind during a round of the Mingle game.

3

Player 044 (Seon-nyeo)

Chae Gook-hee

Player number 044, Seon-nyeo, is portrayed as a self-proclaimed shaman who goes around making tall claims and predictions about other players. Surprisingly, some of her deductions about other players turn out to be eerily accurate. For instance, she tells Gi-hun he is driven by the spirit of those who seek vengeance, which is true since Gi-hun arrived at the games to avenge the death of all the contestants who died in season 1. She initially teams up with the relatively righteous characters in Squid Game season 2.

However, when they leave her behind in one of the games, she joins forces with the morally questionable ones. She also claims to have placed a curse on the heroes after they abandon her during one of the games. As the games progress, she also acquires a few loyal devotees who, on her command, vote in favor of continuing the games.

2

Player 007 (Park Yong-sik)

Yang Dong-geun

Yang Dong-geun’s Squid Game character, Park Yong-sik, is established as another gambling addict who stacks one debt after another before arriving at the games. Like every addict, he convinces himself that he will play just one game before acquiring enough wealth to pay off his debt. However, the stakes become way more personal for him when he realizes his mother has followed him to the games.

Yang Dong-geun is best known for his roles in other Korean movies and shows, like Moving, Fighter in the Wind, and The Forbidden Marriage.

Despite understanding how the games put his mother’s life in danger, he initially refuses to give up on his old habits and votes for the games to continue. However, when he nearly loses his mother during the Mingle game, he realizes the reward is not worth the risk of losing everything he cares about. This newfound perspective makes him one of the morally better characters in Squid Game season 2.

1

Player 001 (Hwang In-ho/Young-il)

Lee Byung-hun

With a surprising twist of events, the Front Man, Hwang In-ho, shows up as Player 001 to compete in the games. He risks becoming one of the competitors because he sees Gi-hun as a threat and wishes to keep a close eye on him. Over the course of the games, the Front Man manages to keep his identity a secret and also wins Gi-hun’s trust. Jung-bae grows a little suspicious about him when he kills a man in cold blood during the Mingle game. However, Hwang In-hoo maintains his composure and does not break character until Squid Game season 2’s finale.

In Squid Game, a mysterious invitation to join a competition is sent to people at risk who are in dire need of money. Four hundred fifty-six participants from all walks of life are locked into a secret location where they play games to win 45.6 billion won. Games are selected from traditional Korean children’s games, such as Red Light and Green Light, but the consequence of losing is death. To survive, competitors must choose their alliances carefully – but the further they go in the competition, the more likely betrayal will rear its ugly head.

Release Date

September 17, 2021

Finale Year

November 30, 2024

Cast

Wi Ha-joon
, Anupam Tripathi
, Oh Yeong-su
, Heo Sung-tae
, Park Hae-soo
, Jung Ho-yeon
, Lee Jung-jae
, Kim Joo-ryoung

Seasons

2

Writers

Hwang Dong-hyuk

Directors

Hwang Dong-hyuk

Showrunner

Hwang Dong-hyuk

Expand