{"id":109,"date":"2025-06-29T21:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T21:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/?p=109"},"modified":"2025-06-29T21:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T21:48:16","slug":"is-squid-game-inspired-by-a-true-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/?p=109","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018Squid Game\u2019 Inspired By A True Story?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Squid Game: Season 3 | Official Trailer | Netflix\" width=\"735\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zgGTVaG2UiQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/show\/squid-game\/\">Squid Game<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;has come to a stunning conclusion on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Netflix<\/a>, bringing Player 456\u2019s tragic story to an end. But watching yet another season of the twisted challenges and games the players are forced to face has left many viewers wondering if the hit Netflix could be based on a true story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Squid Game<\/em>, which premiered in 2021, was created, written, and directed by&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/decider.com\/tag\/Hwang-dong-hyuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hwang Dong-hyuk<\/a>.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/decider.com\/tag\/Lee-jung-jae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lee Jung-jae<\/a>&nbsp;stars as Gi-hun, a down-on-his-luck gambler who joins the Squid Game so he can finally provide for his daughter. Gi-hun won the Squid Game in Season 1 but the traumatic experience led him down a path for vengeance as he used his prize money to enlist the help of a police officer and a team of mercenaries to help him shut the games down once and for all. His return to the game in Season 2 only led to more tragedy and loss, leaving Gi-hun a shell of a man when viewers see him again in Season 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But&nbsp;<em>Squid Game<\/em>&nbsp;is best known for the brutally twisted playground games the players are forced to endure for the cash prize. From a deadly game of red light-green light or the six-legged pentathlon in Season 2, the stakes only become higher with each round as the players get picked off one by one when they lose these seemingly innocent games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, how did Hwang come up with such a dark and twisted story? Is&nbsp;<em>Squid Game<\/em>&nbsp;inspired by a true story? Here is what we know so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is&nbsp;<em>Squid Game<\/em>&nbsp;based on a true story?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Squidgame_Unit_310_N002844-resize.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Squidgame_Unit_310_N002844-resize.webp 1024w, https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Squidgame_Unit_310_N002844-resize-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Squidgame_Unit_310_N002844-resize-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, it is partially inspired by a true story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hwang told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/factcheck.afp.com\/doc.afp.com.36T99GN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AFP<\/a>&nbsp;that Gi-hun\u2019s backstory was inspired by the SsangYong Motor layoffs in 2009, which led to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/gallery\/2009\/aug\/04\/south-korea-automotive-industry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">77-day-long strike<\/a>&nbsp;and a massive brawl with riot police at the plant in Pyongtaek, South Korea. The layoff affected 1,000 employees \u2013 almost one-third of the company\u2019s workforce \u2013 and is largely considered South Korea\u2019s worst labor strike in years, per&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-9b177c6a7b6e437cb8307faefc644251\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AP News.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThrough the reference to the SsangYong Motor layoffs, I wanted to show that any ordinary middle-class person in the world we live in today can fall to the bottom of the economic ladder overnight,\u201d Hwang said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Hwang drew inspiration from several sources, according to a 2021 interview with&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/tv\/news\/squid-game-director-hwang-dong-hyuk-korean-series-global-success-1235073355\/\">Variety<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;when he was accused of borrowing too much from&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/movie\/the-hunger-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hunger Games<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/movie\/battle-royale\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Battle Royale<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained that he drew \u201cgreat inspiration from Japanese comics and animation\u201d and read comics such as&nbsp;<em>Battle Royale<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Liar Game<\/em>&nbsp;when he was first coming up with the idea for&nbsp;<em>Squid Game<\/em>, which he initially envisioned to be a feature film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI came to wonder how I\u2019d feel if I took part in the games myself. But I found the games too complex, and for my own work focused instead on using kids\u2019 games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Squid Game&nbsp;has come to a stunning conclusion on&nbsp;Netflix, bringing Player 456\u2019s tragic story to an end. But watching yet another season of the twisted challenges and games the players are &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threadlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}