The second season of Netflix’s Squid Game introduces the series’ first transgender character

The Squid Game Season 2 spoilers follow.

One of the things that makes the popular Netflix series The Squid Game so compelling is the wide range of people who choose to subscribe to the games. It’s a clever way to show that the real villain—unbridled late-stage capitalism—affects almost everyone who isn’t very wealthy. As far-fetched as it may seem, many of us are one bad decision, accident, or illness away from seeing something like The Squid Game as the only way out. It’s a scary thing, and having characters that represent different walks of life really drives home the point because the audience can relate. It also helps us empathize with characters who are going through something unique to us; I grew up to have really love player 067 from season 1, Kang Sa Byuk (Hoyoung Jung), and it’s hard to imagine the first season without her.

The third episode of Season 2 introduced another character that will appeal to one audience while introducing a foreign concept to others: Player 120, Hyun Joo (Park Sung Hoon), a transgender woman. Some (ignorant, bigoted) fans who have absolutely no idea what The Squid Game is about may see this as an attempt to force positive transgender images down their throats, like the recent backlash from Star Wars fans over trans clonebut trans people do exist and deserve to be portrayed on screen just as much as any of us. There’s one problem, though: Puck is a cisgender man playing a transgender woman. Let’s take a closer look at this character who is almost guaranteed to be controversial both in his native South Korea and here in the United States.

In advertising video in the second season, Park described Hyun Joo as a “former special forces soldier and transgender woman” who “joins the game because she doesn’t have enough money for gender reassignment surgery.” She was kicked out of the army when she started transitioning and unfortunately was completely shunned by her family and friends. Although some LGBTQ identities are protected classes in South Korea, and there was a landmark Supreme Court case ruling in favor of allowing transgender people with young children to change their gender in 2022, transgender people still face with severe discrimination. So it makes some sense that Hyun Joo would face the horrors of playing squid to start a new life because the life she had in South Korea wasn’t really a life at all.

Park goes on to describe Hyun-joo very positively, emphasizing her tenacity:

“Despite the fact that she faces prejudice and difficult situations, she shows incredible strength, determination and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she shatters stereotypes and shines as an inspirational character.”

At first, some players, such as player 149, Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim), are embarrassed to play with a transgender woman, but eventually realize that she is just like any of them. It’s great that Geum-ja eventually befriends Hyun-joo and that Hyun-joo becomes somewhat of a heroine, but it’s still frustrating that she’s being played by a cisgender man. Netflix has done some great things to help the transgender community this year, like streaming the vital, the must-see documentary “Will and Harper” and even wild disappointment “Emilia Perez” at least trance artist Carla Sophia Gascon is leading the charge. So why couldn’t they cast a trans actor for The Squid Game Season 2? Well, according to the show’s creator, there’s a definite reason.

According to The Squid Game creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, finding a Korean trans actor for the role proved difficult, if not impossible. Talking to TV guideHwang said it was “almost impossible to find someone we could authentically cast a role for”, adding:

“Initially we were doing research and I was thinking of authentically casting trans actors. When we researched in Korea, there are hardly any actors who are openly transgender, let alone openly gay, because unfortunately in Korean society nowadays, the LGBTQ community is still marginalized and more neglected, which is heartbreaking. “.

In Art the extremely important documentary Disclosure, actress, writer and producer Jen Richards explains why it’s so important for trans women to play trans roles:

“In my opinion, one of the reasons men end up killing trans women out of fear that other men will think they’re gay for being with trans women is because their friends, men they fear judgment only know trans Women in the media and people who play trans women are the men they know when a trans woman plays a trans woman as beautiful and glamorous as it is on screen, to see these women off-screen while still being women, it completely destroys the idea that they’re somehow men in disguise.’

Richards is absolutely right, but there is also the financial security of a trans actress in South Korea to consider, as this is still a South Korean production despite her international popularity. It’s also a sign that there’s a lot more that can be done to have a better, more authentic representation. We need trans stories on our screens more than ever. If you want to see something on Netflix about a real trans woman that will make you laugh and cry just go watch will and harper. Everyone needs it.

The Squid Game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.