Squid Game creator explains why he felt it was important to feature a trans character in season two

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has explained why it was necessary to include a transgender character, Cho Hyun-ju – played by Park Sung-hoon – in the second season of the hit Netflix drama.

The South Korean thriller returned on Thursday (26 December) introducing several new competitors in the deadly competition. One of those was Cho Hyun-ju, aka player 120, a trans woman and former special forces soldier who accepts the invitation to compete in order to fund her gender-affirming surgery.

The character’s inclusion sparked a backlash from transphobic fans who felt the series was going “woke,” while others weren’t sure how to feel about cis male actor Park Sung-hoon playing the character.

Now the series creator and director has told Decider that representation was a key part of Squid Games’ ethos.

“I saw the people who come to join the games in Squid Game as people who are usually marginalised or neglected from society,” he said. “Not just financially speaking.

“In season one, the representative character for that was Ali, who was a foreigner working in Korea, which is one of the most representative minority groups in Korea.”

Hwang went on to lament that trans people are treated poorly in South Korea, saying he wanted to represent the community’s struggle in the second season.

“Today, unfortunately, in Korean society, the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society, which is why I created the character Cho Hyun-ju as a male-to-female transgender woman.”

As for the controversy surrounding a cis male actor in the role, Hwang has already said: “I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor. When we researched in Korea, there [were] close to no actors [who] are openly trans, let alone openly gay, because unfortunately in the Korean society the LGBTQ+ community is still marginalised and neglected, which is heart-breaking.”

While changing legal gender documents and gender-affirming care are both legal in the East Asian country, South Koreans are split on acceptance of trans people in society, according to Equaldex, and discrimination-protection policies vary by region.

“By creating a character much like Cho Hyun-ju, and through her choices, her actions, and the way she carries herself in the game, I hope that that could raise awareness of these issues we face today,” Hwang added.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.