'Squid Game: The Challenge' teaser brings the horrifying death game to life

You want Season 2? Too bad, here's a reality show.
 By 
Belen Edwards
 on 
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Remember when Netflix missed the point of Squid Game and greenlit a reality show based on the South Korean mega-hit's titular death game? Well, that reality show is almost here, and its first teaser is chilling for all the wrong reasons.

The teaser for Squid Game: The Challenge is full of painstaking replications of Squid Game's iconic sets, from those famed pastel stairs to the "red light, green light" room, complete with the killer doll. It would be impressive if YouTuber Mr. Beast hadn't already recreated these games in 2021.

But by far the scariest part of the teaser is the brief flash of the show's 456 contestants entering the arena for the first time in those iconic green sweatsuits. They're all gaping and smiling in wonder at the sights before them, a stark contrast to the desperation of the heavily debt-ridden Squid Game characters. Sure, the price of failure in Squid Game: The Challenge isn't death, but based on the tales of the show's extreme filming conditions, these 456 contestants are fodder for a cruel entertainment machine just the same.

Squid Game: The Challenge hits Netflix in November.

A woman in a white sweater with shoulder-length brown hair.
Belen Edwards
Entertainment Reporter

Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.


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