The creator of the game Squid explains the choice of a cisgender actor in the role of a trans character

Squid game the creator Hwang Dong Hyuk explains why a cisgender actor Song Hoon Park was cast as the transgender character Hyun Joo in season 2.

Hwang, 53, who also wrote and directed both seasons, knew that some fans were expecting to see a transgender woman in the role of Hyun Joo, a former special forces officer who competes in the South Korean series’ death competition to win money for gender reassignment surgery.

“I expected these kinds of discussions to arise from the first moment I started creating the character of Hyun Joo,” Hwang said TV guide earlier this month. “In the beginning, we were doing research, and I was thinking of authentically casting a trans actor.”

However, Hwang soon discovered that there were “almost no actors who are openly transsexual” in South Korea.

“Unfortunately, currently in Korean society, the LGBTQ community is still marginalized and more neglected, which is heartbreaking,” he explained.

Determining that it would be “almost impossible to find someone we could authentically include” as a trans woman, Squid game the team was located at 39 Parkova Street.

“I’ve been watching his work since his debut, and I fully trusted him to be the right person in terms of talent to portray this character,” Hwang said of Park.

The director’s decision to include a transgender character in Season 2 is in line with the announcement of Season 1, which premiered on Netflix in 2021.

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“I saw people coming to join the games Squid game as people who are generally marginalized or neglected by society, and not just financially,” Hwang said The solver on Friday, December 27. “Unfortunately, in Korean society today, the gender minority is a group that is not widely accepted in society, so I created the character of Hyun Joo as a male-to-female transgender woman.”

Transgender actors playing transgender roles is a relatively new phenomenon even in the United States, but trans activists argue that casting CIS actors in transgender roles perpetuates the harmful belief that trans people just wear costumes. Annette Benningwhose son Stephen Ira Beatty is transgender, explained the concept during an interview with Telegraph.

“The big thing that I’ve really started to understand about this issue is that sometimes people see trans people as a kind of representation,” Benning, 66, said. “But really it’s a mistake, it’s a misunderstanding.”

Despite​​​​some criticism for Park’s casting, Hwang hopes that Hyun Joo’s character will be positive.

“I hope that creating a character that is very similar to Hyun-joo, through her choices, actions, and how she carries herself in the game, can raise awareness of the issues we face today,” he told Decider.

Season 2 Squid Gume hit Netflix on Friday, December 26. The dystopian thriller tells the story of participants in a life-or-death game fighting to win billions of dollars.