TV

Netflix Promising “Squid Game” Season 2 Will Premiere This Year

Published

5 months ago

January 23, 2024

The hit series “Squid Game” will be returning to Netflix for Season 2, and Netflix notes in a letter to shareholders this week – obtained by Variety – that it’s planned for this year.

Here’s the full letter from Netflix that was shared by Variety this afternoon:

Looking ahead, despite last year’s strikes pushing back the launch of some titles, we have a big, bold slate for 2024. Audiences will be able to choose from hit returning dramas like The Diplomat S2, Bridgerton S3, Squid Game S2 and Empress S2; unscripted series like Tour de France: Unchained S2, Love is Blind S6, F1: Drive to Survive S6 and Full Swing S2; and brand new shows like 3 Body Problem (based on the best selling novel and from the Game of Thrones showrunners), Griselda (starring Sofia Vegara, which premieres this week), The Gentlemen (from Guy Ritchie), Eric (starring Benedict Cumberbach), Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cien Años de Soledad from Colombia based on the novel by Gabriel García Márquez, and Senna from Brazil.

On the film side, in addition to the Rebel Moon sequel, our slate includes Back in Action with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, Carry On from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment starring Jason Bateman and Taron Edgerton, Spellbound from producer John Lasseter, Eddie Murphy reprising his role in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and Six Triple Eight starring Kerry Washington and directed by Tyler Perry.

From rising stars to veteran actors, the ensemble cast of “Squid Game” Season 2 boasts a diverse range of talent and experiences. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who won an Emmy for the first season, will return to direct and executive produce the entire second season.

Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo will be back, alongside new players Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon, and Yang Dong-geun.

The additional cast includes:

Park Gyu-young: Well known for her role in Netflix series Sweet Home Seasons 1 and 2, she is also starring in the upcoming Netflix series Celebrity.
Jo Yu-ri: The singer and actress is known as a former member of South Korean-Japanese girl group Iz*One.
Kang Ae-sim: A highly respected theater and musical actress in Korea, her performance in TV series Be Melodramatic and Netflix series Move to Heaven left a deep impression on the audience.
Lee David: Best known for his supporting roles in director Hwang’s film The Fortress, he met Lee Jung-jae through the film, Svaha: The Sixth Finger.
Lee Jin-uk: Starred in Netflix series Sweet Home Seasons 1 and 2, he is also known for his roles in various Korean dramas and films, including in one of director Hwang’s biggest films, Miss Granny.
Choi Seung-hyun: The singer and actor have starred in various Korean films and TV series such as Tazza: The Hidden Card and Commitment.
Roh Jae-won: Making his acting debut in 2021, he is fast gaining recognition through films like Missing Yoon and Ditto.
Won Ji-an: Made an impressive debut on the first season of Netflix series D.P.

In the South Korean series, “Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes. A survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.”

“Squid Game” is created by Hwang Dong-hyuk.

Reality series “Squid Game: The Challenge” is also getting a second season.

TV

Stephen King’s ‘The Institute’ – Mary-Louise Parker & Ben Barnes Starring in TV Series

Published

3 days ago

June 13, 2024

John Squires

Published in 2019, Stephen King‘s novel The Institute is getting a TV series adaptation from MGM+, with Deadline reporting today that the project has been given a series order.

Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone) and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) will star.

The Institute comes from director/executive producer Jack Bender (Lost, Mr. Mercedes), writer/executive producer Benjamin Cavell (Justified, The Stand) and MGM+ Studios.

In the eight-episode series, “When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson (Barnes) has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.” The website notes that Parker will play “Ms. Sigsby, the charming but iron-willed director of the Institute and a true believer in its awful mission.”

“I’m delighted and excited at the prospect of The Institute, with its high-intensity suspense, being filmed as a series,” King said. “The combination of Jack Bender and Ben Cavell guarantees that the results will be terrific.”

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work again with Stephen King. And The Institute, based on his critically acclaimed novel, is an exciting addition to the MGM+ original series slate,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “There is no creative team I would trust more to bring the book to life than Jack and Ben, whose creative vision and love of Mr. King’s voice, will bring this thought-provoking and gut-wrenching story to life, in the engaging, cinematic, and thrilling style MGM+ viewers expect.”

Here’s the novel’s full synopsis, via Amazon:

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King’s gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good vs. evil in a world where the good guys don’t always win.

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.