The streamer said Tuesday that the ultraviolent Korean drama has been sampled by 111 million members since its Sept. 17 premiere worldwide, over the span of less than a month.
That means “Squid Game” has been viewed by more people in its initial month of release than the previous No. 1 holder, “Bridgerton,” which Netflix said had been selected to watch by 82 million households in the first 28 days of release.
A big caveat: The proprietary metric that Netflix is using here is based on the number of accounts that picked a given title and streamed for at least 2 minutes.
Property of Netflix
Above, you'll see the ratings list as it was previously announced by Netflix. Now, slightly more than a month later, it looks quite different.
Series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety he first conceived the idea for “Squid Game” in 2008 as a film. But Korean studios passed because of its violent themes, and he went on to create several hit films before being able to revisit the project about 10 years later.
“When I started writing ‘Squid Game’, I was in financial straits myself and spent much time in cafes reading comics including ‘Battle Royale’ and ‘Liar Game,’” Hwang said. “I came to wonder how I’d 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’ games.”
A second season seems inevitable, but the South-Korean emphasizes that it'll take some time before he's ready to do that.