The second season of ‘Squid Game’ skyrocketed to the top of Netflix’s non-English TV 10 list with a whopping 68 million views, as per the streaming service’s latest weekly top 10 tally.
Record-breaking debut
During the December 23 – 29, 2024, viewing period, the Korean dystopian series was the top-watched title in 92 countries, including Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. It also amassed 487.6 million hours of viewing time worldwide following its premiere on December 26.
The seven-episode show by director, writer, and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk broke the record for most views for a show in its premiere week, previously set by the first season of Wednesday with 50.1 million views in 2022.
The weekly tally further revealed the first season also climbed to land in third place on Netflix’s top 10 non-English TV list with 8.1 million views and registered 67.1 million hours of viewing time. It was in the top 10 in shows in 93 countries, including Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, and Jordan.
The show’s sophomore run also broke into Netflix’s most popular list in record time to become the streaming platform’s seventh most popular non-English TV show in record time. The first season remains at the top with 265.2 million views.
Season 1
Released on September 17, 2021, the first season of the survival-game drama was centered around 465 indebted people competing in a mysterious survival game for the chance to win $38.8 million (45.6 billion Korean won), with deadly high stakes.
The nine-episode thriller was Netflix’s biggest TV show ever, amassing 142 million-member households globally in its first four weeks. Subscribers have watched 2.2 billion hours of the first season, making it the most-watched series of all time on Netflix.
The second season continued with the return of the main lead, played by Lee Jung-jae, to end the deadly game. It also starred stars Wi Ha-jun, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Byung-hun, and Yim Si-wan.
What to watch out for
The third and final season will be released in 2025. “The fierce clash between [Gi-hun and Front Man’s] two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year,” Hwang said in a letter to fans, citing Netflix.