Last Updated:
Queen of Tears actor Park Sung Hoon has been cast as a transgender woman in the upcoming season of Squid Game.
Squid Game 2 will be released on December 26. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Netflix’s much-anticipated show Squid Game is soon returning with another edge-of-the-seat season of thriller. It has been three years since the first season was released and fans have wanted more of the survival game show since then. The upcoming season marks Lee Jung Jae’s return as Seong Gi Hun, aka Player 456, with a new set of faces. Among them is Queen of Tears star Park Sung Hoon.
The 39-year-old actor will portray the role of a transgender woman, Hyun Ju, in Squid Game 2. The revelation left the fans of the show divided, who questioned why an LGBTQ actor was not cast for the role. Another section pointed out that trans people are still not accepted in the South Korean entertainment industry.
Amid the ongoing debate, Squid Game’s director, Hwang Dong Hyuk, spoke about his decision to cast Park Sung Hoon as the transgender woman. He admitted to knowing that his decision would divide the show’s fans. Despite knowing the consequences, he still went ahead with the casting because he found few suitable trans actors for the role.
In an interview with TV Guide, Hwang Dong Hyuk said, “I did anticipate such discussions to arise from the first moment I began creating the character Hyun Ju.” Despite knowing the repercussions, he chose Sung Hoon, given that there were no openly trans actors because the LGBTQ community was still being marginalised in Korea. He also highlighted that there are only a handful of openly gay actors in South Korean showbiz.
Dong Hyuk explained, “In the beginning, we were doing our research and I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor. […] When we researched in Korea, there are close to no actors that are openly trans, let alone openly gay, because unfortunately in the Korean society currently the LGBTQ community is rather still marginalised and more neglected, which is heartbreaking.” Meanwhile, the Squid Game director mentioned his full faith in Park Sung Hoon’s abilities and talent to ace the role.
On December 5, in a ‘Meet the Cast’ video shared by Netflix K-Content, Park Sung-Hoon revealed he would be portraying a transgender woman, Hyun Ju, in the upcoming season of Squid Game. He described his character as a former special forces soldier and a male-to-female transgender woman who joined the deadly game to earn money to undergo gender-affirming surgery.
Squid Game 2 is set to premiere on Netflix on December 26.