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Pierce Conran

Squid Game season 2 has introduced viewers to a roster of new faces, but fans of Korean cinema will find some of the actors very familiar.
Read on as we reveal our favourite previous roles performed by 12 of the Squid Game 2 actors. Note: the final entry is a spoiler.
1. Im Si-wan (#333): The Merciless

ZE:A boy band member Im Si-wan is already well known to K-drama fans; some of his best roles came early in his career on the big screen.
Among them was his supporting role in The Attorney, the smash-hit historical drama starring Song Kang-ho.
This was the part that got Im noticed, but his best role to date was in the slick crime drama The Merciless, in which he plays Jo Hyun-soo, a police officer who goes to jail undercover to befriend Sul Kyung-gu’s gangster and then joins his gang when they are both released.
2. David Lee (#125): Poetry

David Lee (aka Lee Da-wit) has been a fixture on screens since his primary school years. He plays the diffident Min-su in Squid Game 2.
One of his most vivid roles was in Lee Chang-dong’s masterpiece Poetry, in which he plays Jongwook, the lead character’s reserved grandson who is implicated in a brutal gang rape at his school.
3. Lee Jin-wook (#246): Miss Granny

Sweet Home star Lee Jin-wook returns to Netflix as Kyung-suk, who enters the games to raise money to treat his sick child.
Although he has been more prolific on the small screen, Lee has had some memorable film roles, including his theatrical debut Miss Granny, in which he partnered with Squid Game mastermind Hwang Dong-hyuk for the first time.
In Miss Granny, Lee plays a TV producer who becomes enthralled with a young woman’s voice, not realising she is actually an older woman who has magically transformed into her younger self.
4. Park Sung-hoon (#120) – Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

Many Squid Game 2 viewers will probably recognise Park Sung-hoon, who plays the transgender former soldier Cho Hyun-ju. His breakout role was as the bully Jeon Jae-joon in the hit series The Glory.
Horror fans may recognise him as one of the leads of Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, which also featured Squid Game co-star Wi Ha-joon.
In it, Park plays a youth who visits a haunted location for a live stream with a group of fake paranormal videographers, only to get far more than he bargained for.
5. T.O.P. (#230) – 71: Into the Fire

Big Bang rapper T.O.P. (aka Choi Seung-hyun) makes his long-awaited screen comeback as the manic pill-popping Thanos – also a rapper – in Squid Game 2.
Though far more famous as a musician, T.O.P. appeared in several high-profile films before a drug scandal led to him falling from grace. Among them is the punchy Korean war film 71: Into the Fire.
In it he plays a member of a small group of undertrained student soldiers who protect a school from a massive advancing North Korean army unit.
6. Yang Dong-geun (#7): Address Unknown

Better known by his initials YDG, Yang is a famous singer and actor in Korea who has been active since the 1980s.
Among his many roles, the one that stands out – not least for being very controversial – is his lead performance in Kim Ki-duk’s 2002 film Address Unknown.
Yang plays Chang-guk, the violent mixed-race child of an army base sex worker and an African-American soldier, who lives near the base in a bus with his mother as an adult.
7. Kang Ha-neul (#388) – Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet

Kang Ha-neul is known for playing bright and genial characters in comedies and romances, similar to his Squid Game character Kang Dae-ho.
However, when he does step into more dramatic territory, the results speak for themselves. He received huge plaudits for bringing the Korean poet Yun Dong-ju to life in Lee Joon-ik’s drama Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet.
Filmed in black and white, the film follows the struggles that shaped Yun’s poetry during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-45).
8. Song Young-chang (#100): First Love

In Squid Game 2, Song Young-chang plays Im Jeong-dae, who leads the contingent of players voting for the games to continue. The veteran character actor has appeared in countless modern Korean classics.
One of his most memorable leading roles was in 1990s romcom First Love, in which he plays a big-city acting professor who goes to a small-town university and gains the admiration of Kim Hye-soo’s bright-eyed student Lee Myung-se.
9. Kang Ae-sim (#149) & Lee Seo-hwan (#390): Concrete Utopia

Kang Ae-sim plays fretful mother Jang Geum-ja in Squid Game 2, while Lee Seo-hwan plays Seong Gi-hun’s buddy Park Jung-bae. But this is not their first collaboration.
The two veteran stage actors – who only recently moved to the screen – previously appeared together in the gripping real estate parable Concrete Utopia, about the struggling residents of the last apartment block standing in Seoul following a massive earthquake.
As well as Kang and Lee, Concrete Utopia shares a number of narrative themes with Squid Game, not to mention a leading star, featured at the bottom of this list.
10. Kim Si-eun (#95): Next Sohee

One of the most exciting new faces in Korean cinema, Kim Si-eun has delivered impressive performances in acclaimed indie dramas including The Dream Songs and most notably Next Sohee, where she stars alongside Bae Doona.
She plays a student who kills herself during a gruelling training experience at a call centre, whose death is then investigated by Bae’s police officer.
11. Choi Gwi-hwa (#203): A Taxi Driver

Kim Ki-min, who plays one of the men in favour of continuing the games, may not be a big presence in Squid Game 2, but the fact he is played by Choi Gwi-hwa suggests his role may be bigger in season 3, set to be released later this year.
Choi is well known for appearing in major films, including as a protest-quashing villain in the smash-hit Gwangju Uprising drama A Taxi Driver.
12. Lee Byung-hun (#1): I Saw the Devil

Squid Game season 1 antagonist The Front Man becomes the captivating Player #1 in season 2.
Lee gets to show off his bountiful screen talent – including his now-unmasked eyes – in his expanded role.
His eyes have perhaps never been better used than in Kim Jee-woon’s ferocious thriller I Saw the Devil.
In the 2010 horror movie, Lee plays an agent in pursuit of a serial killer who viciously murdered his pregnant fiancée. However, during the bloody catch-and-release that follows, we begin to wonder who truly is the “devil” of the title.
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Best movie roles of Squid Game season 2’s new players

Kang Ha-neul as Kang Dae-ho, or player #388, in a still from Squid Game season 2. The actor is among those in the new series with impressive portfolios. Photo: Netflix

Im Si-wan as police officer Jo Hyun-soo in a still from The Merciless.

David Lee as Jongwook, a school student implicated in a gang rape, in a still from Poetry.

Lee Jin-wook as TV producer Han Seung-woo in a still from Miss Granny.

Park Sung-hoon as live-streamer Sung-hoon in a still from Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum.

T.O.P. as student soldier Oh Jung-bum in a still from 71: Into the Fire.

Yang Dong-geun as Chang-guk, the child of an American soldier and a Korean sex worker, in a still from Address Unknown.

Kang Ha-neul as Korean poet Yun Dong-ju in a still from Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet.

Song Young-chang as big-city acting professor Kang Chang-wook in a still from First Love.

Lee Seo-hwan as Seong Gi-hun’s buddy Park Jung-bae in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: Netflix

Kim Si-eun as So-hee, a student who kills herself during a gruelling training experience, in a still from Next Sohee.

Choi Gwi-hwa as an undercover military chief in a still from A Taxi Driver.

Lee Byung-hun as agent Kim Soo-hyeon in a still from I Saw the Devil.

Netflix K-drama Squid Game season 2 review: new games electrifying and pulse pounding

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix

Gong Yoo in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: Netflix.

Im Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix.

Yang Dong-geun (left) as Park Yong-sik and Kang Ae-sim as Jang Geum-ja in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix.

Lee Byung-hun as Front Man in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix.

Choi Seung-hyun as Thanos in a still from Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix.

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Lee Jung-jae in a still from Squid Game season 2. The South Korean actor has been offered a lead role in the coming romantic comedy Petty Love. Photo: Netflix

Lim Ji-yeon in a still from The Killing Vote. Photo: SBS

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Do they look familiar? From Park Sung-hoon to Kang Ha-neul, we look at films new Squid Game actors were in before entering the deadly arena


Do they look familiar? From Park Sung-hoon to Kang Ha-neul, we look at films new Squid Game actors were in before entering the deadly arena.


Best movie roles of Squid Game season 2’s new players

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Do they look familiar? From Park Sung-hoon to Kang Ha-neul, we look at films new Squid Game actors were in before entering the deadly arena

1. Im Si-wan (#333): The Merciless

Do they look familiar? From Park Sung-hoon to Kang Ha-neul, we look at films new Squid Game actors were in before entering the deadly arena