Few television series have reshaped the cultural zeitgeist as dramatically as Netflix’s “Squid Game.” Much of that impact can be credited not only to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk but also to the work of production designer Chae Kyoung-sun, editor Nam Na-young, and cinematographer Kim Ji-yong. In conversations with Awards Focus, all three artisans shared insights into their creative contributions to Season 2, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how they helped elevate the series into a deeply layered continuation of the original phenomenon. Upon its debut, the dystopian Korean thriller seized global attention with its haunting premise, striking visual aesthetic, and razor-sharp social commentary. While its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk initially envisioned the show as a one-season narrative, the runaway success and fan demand gave rise to a second season—one that had to match not only the emotional intensity of the original but expand the world in both depth and scale.
Season 2 of “Squid Game” finds our main protagonist, Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae to Emmy winning praise in Season 1) changed. No longer the aimless everyman, he reenters the games with a sense of mission, uncovering deeper layers of the brutal system that upends human morality for entertainment. With the stakes elevated and the storyline branching into a more ambitious direction, the series required a full rebuild—literally. None of the original sets were saved after Season 1 wrapped, which meant the production design team had to reconstruct everything from the ground up while imagining wholly new games and set pieces.
The result is a second season that feels even more immersive and psychologically jarring, in part due to the technical mastery behind the camera. From the childlike yet sinister new games to the shadow-drenched interiors and emotionally taut editing, Season 2 showcases a crafts team at the top of their game. The production design, cinematography, and editing work together to balance surrealism with realism, fantasy with dread, and scale with intimacy.
At the heart of this world-building is production designer Chae Kyoung-sun, who was tasked with not only rebuilding the show’s iconic sets but pushing them into new emotional and visual territory. “Everything had been broken down. No one thought even 1% that we would have to save anything for season 2 or 3,” Chae explained. That clean slate allowed her to reimagine the show’s spatial psychology. For the new “Mingle” game, a carousel-themed nightmare of shifting alliances, her team constructed a vibrant, carnival-like environment. “It was really a group effort,” she noted. “There were 2,000 light bulbs installed, huge curtains, a round table—we did a lot of testing for safety and color.”
Chae’s approach often centered on irony: sets evoking childhood innocence stood in stark contrast to the bloodshed within. “We weren’t really creating deliberate devices to evoke fear,” she said. “We wanted to focus on beauty, nostalgia, and pureness as contrast to what was actually going on.” Even the winding corridors—scaled up in Season 2 to serve as a battleground for the uprising—were modeled after the repetitive layouts of classic Korean apartments. The maze-like design served both a practical and metaphorical function: “We took inspiration from old Korean apartments. You see them shooting, hiding, ascending toward the control room. It had to feel endless and logical.”
One of the most symbolic design choices came in the purple staircase set, which Chae described as a visual nod to the infinite pink stairwell of Season 1. “Purple symbolizes a regal, godlike nature. It’s like the staircase to heaven, an unreachable space that keeps going and going.” That visual metaphor tied into the recruiter scenes with Gi-hun and added a sense of mystical doom. When asked which set she’d preserve if she could, Chae picked the Mingle game. “It was sparkly and beautiful. I wish we could turn it into an amusement park—without the death, of course.”
Editor Nam Na-young, returning from the first season, also felt the pressure of surpassing an already iconic series. “We were really trying to up the ante,” she shared. With over 456 characters and storylines interweaving inside and outside the games, Nam had to strategically decide which emotional beats to highlight. For the intense Russian roulette scene between Gi-hun and the recruiter, she experimented with various orders of reaction shots. “Should we put the shot of the shaking hand first? Or the facial reaction? We tried many versions and settled on the final cut.”
Nam gravitates toward psychological tension. “I have a lot more fun editing these thriller or horror elements,” she said, noting her particular pride in the six-legged race from Episode 5 and the bathroom brawl involving fan-favorite Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun). “That scene was in such a tight space, but we wanted to show why [Lee Myung-gi’s character] wants to kill Thanos, so we focused the cuts to highlight that emotional drive.” Despite the chaotic nature of the show, Nam believes good editing shouldn’t draw attention to itself. “In my personal opinion, the editing shouldn’t stand out so much that it gets all the focus.”
Collaborating closely with Director Hwang, Nam says the character work often dictated the rhythm of the episodes. “Director Hwang and I both have characters we like, but each episode has its own emotional center, and we build around that. I’m especially fond of the Crypto Guy—his scenes were a blast to cut.”
When asked how far she thinks she’d get in the games, Nam laughed: “Never. I could maybe handle the stone-throwing game in the six-legged race. That’s about it.”
Cinematographer Kim Ji-yong, a new addition to the “Squid Game” team but a frequent collaborator of Director Hwang, brought a fresh but intuitive approach. “Our main character is not the same person anymore. He got darker and more serious, so I wanted to put more shadows in every frame I could,” he explained. Lighting took on new meaning in Season 2, especially during the voting sequences. “There’s a dome room with a red and blue floor. I used that concept to create lighting metaphors for choice and duality.”
Kim also discussed the challenges of the Russian roulette scene. “I used subtle zooms and handheld work to follow their reactions. Each take was slightly different depending on how the actors performed. I reacted in real time with my lens.” For large-scale sequences like the Mingle game or the uprising, he avoided traditional movie lights to preserve realism. “I wanted the extras to really feel like they were in the game. So we used as much practical lighting as possible.”
One of Kim’s favorite scenes to shoot was the carousel-like Mingle game, but the most challenging? The contestant living quarters. “It was just one big white room. Huge set, nowhere to put lights. I had to find ways to create shadows without overwhelming the space.”
Despite joining post-Season 1, Kim had no trouble finding his place. “I worked with almost everyone on this team before. It was a familiar environment. And being a fan of the show made the experience even more meaningful.”
Also asked how far he’d last in the games, Kim joked, “Well, there’s a game coming up in Season 3 that I think I could survive… but I probably can’t talk about that.”
For all three artisans—Chae, Nam, and Kim—Season 2 was both a creative summit and a personal milestone. “Squid Game really became representative of my entire career,” Chae reflected. Nam echoed the sentiment: “It raised my work on the global stage.” Kim described his transition from fan to collaborator with quiet pride: “It was really fun to shoot this one because I was a fan first. And now it’s a project I’m incredibly proud of.”
As the series builds toward its third and final season, the legacy of “Squid Game” will no doubt be defined by more than its story. It’s a visual and emotional architecture crafted with precision—a feat made possible by a team who, even after global success, chose to rebuild everything from scratch and make it better. Season 3 has much to live up to, but if Season 2 proves anything, it’s that this team knows how to play the long game.