In the history of Netflix, Squid Game has become the second most popular non-English show.
Data shows the South Korean series clocked in 126.2 million views in less than 12 days—which is faster than any streamer series ever. However, these staggering numbers still did not beat the record of season one.
Following the release of season two, The Wrap reported that season one saw a huge surge, with over 13 million views registered during the week of Dec. 30.
The stunning development comes in the wake of the 2025 Golden Globes nomination for season two, which left the creator, Hwang Dong Hyuk, in shock.
“I was shocked and surprised that it was nominated even before its release. Just being one of the six works selected feels like winning an award. I’m very satisfied with that,” the maker said to The Hollywood Reporter.
To explain this, he said that he did not expect the honour because “the story isn’t complete, and the message I wanted to convey hasn’t been fully revealed; I thought it would be difficult to win an award in this state.”
“To receive such recognition, the story needs to be delivered in its entirety, and that hasn’t happened yet. So, I wasn’t expecting anything at all,” Hwang concluded.
