“Squid Game” season 2, which debuted on Netflix on Thursday, Dec. 26, has some record-breaking pressure to live up to — the first season has pulled in a whopping 2.2 billion hours and 265.2 million views since premiering in September 2021, making it the most-watched show in Netflix history. Will the seven episodes of the second season and its cast of new competitors reach similarly stratospheric TV heights? “I do have a lot on my shoulders, but I’ll make sure it’s worth the wait,” series creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk assured Netflix in 2023.
Happily for Hwang, season 2 of the South Korean dystopian drama garnered early critical acclaim, earning a 2025 Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama Series ahead of its release. And though it hasn’t yet cracked the Netflix Top 10 Shows ranking one day into its premiere (“Squid Game” season 1 is still holding strong at number eight, though), the second season has already claimed the top spot on Rotten Tomatoes’ rankings, with an 86% Certified Fresh rating from the critics.
How to watch “Squid Game” season 2
‘Squid Game’ season 2 premiered internationally on Thursday, December 26 on Netflix. All episodes are available to watch now.
However, that figure is considerably higher than the more populist Popcornmeter, with audiences scoring “Squid Game” season 2 at 62% as of press time. And both scores fall short of season 1’s metrics, which are holding steady at 90% Certified Fresh and a 74% Popcornmeter average from viewers.
The overall consensus among Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews seems to be that season 2 suffers from an abrupt ending, but we’re presuming that the already in-the-works third season will wrap up those dangling storylines.
Hwang recently revealed that he originally envisioned seasons 2 and 3 as a single story, telling Entertainment Weekly ahead of the second season’s premiere: “That’s how I wrote it. But in the process, it came out to be too many episodes. So I thought it’d be better to divide it into two.” That explains why the seasons were written and filmed back-to-back, as well as the shorter episode count for “Squid Game” season 2 (seven compared to the nine of its predecessor.)
If you haven’t pressed play on the new eps just yet — here’s how to watch Squid Game season 2 — the official synopsis for the second season reads: “Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Seong Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.”
Tom’s Guide will keep you posted on all new information surrounding “Squid Game” season 2 and season 3, including plot points, character details and viewership data.
