Squid Game, the hit South Korean Netflix thriller, is back for a second season, and the cast announcement has revealed a brand new trans character. The only problem is that a cis male actor is taking on the role.
On Thursday, Netflix released a “Meet the Cast” featurette announcing new additions to Squid Game’s highly anticipated second season. In the video, each actor introduces and gives background on their character. South Korean actor Park Sung-hoon confirmed that his character, Hyun-Ju, is a trans woman who has joined the deadly game to pay for gender-affirming surgery.
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“Hyun-ju is a former special forces soldier and a transgender woman,” Sunghoon said. “She joins the game because she’s short on money for her gender-affirming surgery. Even though she faces prejudice and tough situations, she shows incredible strength, decisiveness and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an aspiring character.”
The series concerns an underground contest of life-or-death games in which hundreds of financially burdened contestants compete to win a huge monetary prize. The first season received widespread acclaim and became the first Korean drama to top Netflix’s global viewership charts.
The show became known for depicting a diverse range of lives across the socioeconomic spectrum, with each character connected by dire financial straits. While the news of a trans character is a huge step forward in representation for the series, the fact that yet another cis male actor is playing the role has come as a huge disappointment to many trans fans.
Could they not cast an actual transgender woman… this gonna piss me off
— steven ☀️ (@arianaunext) December 4, 2024
this is not how you give representation… a cis man pretending to be part of a minority group just doesn't sit right with me, especially when they could've hired an actual trans actress
— dawnmoer (@dawnmoer) December 4, 2024
At the same time, some fans have argued that South Korea represents a different landscape for trans actors when compared with the United States. “How do you expect them to find the trans actress who is willing to out herself to get the role, who hasn’t done any gender-affirming surgery, who can act the role and who is willing to withstand transphobic comments from people from sk and all over the world,” one viral tweet read.
Others, however, argued that at the very least a cis woman would have made a better choice. Casting a cis man can unintentionally reiterate the transphobic man-in-a-wig caricature.
The second season of Squid Game drops on Netflix December 26. Check out the official trailer below.
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