Squid Game's casting sparks debate over transgender role
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of "Squid Game," reveals the reasons for casting a man as a transgender woman. He admits, "I did anticipate such discussions." This article discusses a new character this season but does not reveal its storyline.
In the second season of "Squid Game," a new character appears, Hyun-ju, a transgender woman who was a special forces soldier. She enters the game to earn money for gender-affirming surgery. This character, played by Park Sung-hoon, has gained viewers' sympathy, even though the actor is not transgender. This has sparked controversy.
The series creator said in an interview with TV Guide:
"I did anticipate such discussions to arise from the first moment I began creating the character Hyun-ju. 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 marginalized and more neglected, which is heartbreaking."
The lack of a suitable actress forced the creators to involve a man.
"It was near impossible to find someone who we could cast authentically. And that led us to the decision to cast Sung-hoon. I have watched his work [playing many queer roles in Korean projects] ever since his debut, and I had complete trust in him that he would be the right person in terms of talent in portraying this character."
The transgender character in "Squid Game" is groundbreaking
There are few examples of transgender characters in Korean series, which is why Hwang wanted to introduce such representation in the second season because "it is not yet widely accepted."
"I saw the people who come to join the games in Squid Game as people who are usually marginalized or neglected from society, and not just financially speaking," said Hwang in an interview with Decider. "In season 1, the representative character for that was Ali, who was a foreigner working in Korea, which is one of the most representative minority groups in Korea... Today, unfortunately, in Korean society, the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society, which is why I created the character Hyun-ju as a male to female transgender woman."
During the second season, Hyun-ju talks about her life and challenges as a transgender woman, including the discrimination she has faced. Hwang hopes that her story in "Squid Game" will help "raise awareness of these issues" that many people still struggle with.
The second season of "Squid Game" is already available on Netflix, and the third season will be out in 2025.
