Squid Game Director on How Season 3 Addressed Criticism of the VIPs

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Squid Game Season 3. Read at your own risk!]

There's a moment at the start of Squid Game Season 3, Episode 3, titled "It's Not Your Fault," when a pink soldier removes his mask after nearly getting stabbed by a player. "Mamma mia," he says in English. Shortly after, another pink soldier approaches and responds, also in English, "Damn, that was close." It's an exchange that may prompt viewers watching the final chapter of Hwang Dong-hyuk's hit Netflix series to check if their audio settings had unknowingly changed from Korean to English. But no, this is not the dubbed version of the show. It's soon revealed that the VIPs are back and were given the opportunity to operate as pink soldiers for a more immersive experience. Hwang spoke to TV Guide about the return of these golden-masked characters in Season 3.

Squid Game's first season was groundbreaking in more than one way. The Korean thriller became Netflix's most-watched series ever when it premiered in September 2021 and was the first non-English language series to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards (it scored 14 nominations and 6 wins in total). But if there was one element of the show that received the most criticism, it was the VIPs, who were introduced as the financial sponsors of the Squid Game who spectate the life-or-death matches in opulent lounges and place bets on players' fates. Though these diabolical, ultra-elite characters were only a small part of the series, opinion pieces about their subpar performances flooded the Internet. 

When asked about the response to the VIPS in Season 1, Hwang said, "I dont know if the criticism was more about the dialogue, but I believe it was more about the acting because we had used non-professional actors back then. So I think it had to do with their performance."

In this season, the VIPs take on a slightly larger role compared to in Season 1. In particular, they contribute to determining the participation of Player 222, Kim Jun-hee's (Jo Yu-ri) newborn baby in the game. 

The director said the Squid Game crew took a different approach when it came to casting the VIPs for Season 3: "This time around, we tried to cast the best, capable actors as VIPs, so I hope it'll come off better." 

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Squid Game Season 3 is available to stream on Netflix.