Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae reveals when he will be able to say goodbye to his popular character Seong Gi-hun
Actor Lee Jung-Jae says he is yet to say goodbye to player number 456 or Seong Gi-hun of hit show Squid Game. The third and final season of Squid Game, the globally popular Netflix series, has wrapped production. Jung-Jae shot to international stardom with his performance as the perpetually down-on-his-luck yet kind-hearted Gi-hun in the first season of the smash hit Netflix series in 2021. He won a Primetime Emmy award and multiple other trophies for the show. (Also Read | Squid Game Season 3: Lee Jung-jae says he's 'very nervous' about fan reactions)
Jung-Jae returned for the much-anticipated second season in 2024 and is now awaiting the release of the third season on June 27. 'We haven't released season three yet and we still don't know how the audiences are going to respond to season three, I haven't said goodbye to Gi-hun yet although we have wrapped production,' he said.
"As an actor and as part of those that have created the show, I feel like seeing how the audience responds to it is also part of the journey. So when we get to do that, then I think I'll be ready to say goodbye," Jung-Jae told PTI in a virtual interview through the help of an interpreter.
Squid Game, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, revolves around a deadly contest where 456 players, all facing financial hardship, play a series of deadly children's games to win 45.6 billion won in prize money.
At the end of the first season, Gi-hun won the prize money but instead of going back to his life, he set out to end the deadly games for good.
The second season saw Gi-hun return to the games with a mission — to uncover the true identity of the mastermind. Whether he succeeds in his mission or not will be revealed in the upcoming third season.
Jung-Jae, 52, a renowned face in the South Korean film and television industry with credits such as An Affair, Il Mare, The Housemaid, Hunt and drama series Chief of Staff, said while playing Gi-hun he was reminded of values people tend to overlook in daily life.
'The biggest lessons that I felt by portraying Gi-hun and also through Squid Game, is that there are so many things that we think we are aware of, but we tend to forget in life,' he added.
"Some of them being the importance of understanding other people and genuinely helping others when they are in need. Squid Game is definitely a show that has given me the opportunity to reflect and look back on these important messages," he said.
The actor said people often ask how similar he is to Gi-hun, and he believes they share many traits. "As I'm the actor who portrayed Gi-hun, my own interpretation of the character went into creating him. So we are quite similar," he said.
Asked about the reason why Korean storytellers tend to tackle issues like inequality and the gap between rich and poor with nuance, Jung-Jae said it is not unusual as the Korean entertainment industry loves to explore a variety of themes.
"And these themes are explored in a very free way through which a lot of different messages can be conveyed. I think that's the power that recent Korean content has. Whether it's a social message or political or even if it's about romance, when we explore a particular theme, we dive into it, really get to the heart of it all, and try to express it in as free a way as possible. That's what's unique about Korean content and also why it's so powerful these days," he said.
Season three of Squid Game will also feature Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, Im Si-wan, Park Sung-hoon, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Lee David, and Roh Jae-won.
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