‘Squid Game’ Continues to Make History This Awards Season
With no killer doll in sight, Squid Game is on a run toward the jackpot. Since its premiere in September, the South Korean blockbuster has become the most-streamed series on Netflix, pulling in 1.65 billion hours of viewing during its first four weeks. And just last week, HoYeon Jung, who portrays Kang Sae-byeok, became the first South Korean woman to grace a solo cover of American Vogue. Jung is currently the most followed South Korean actor on Instagram, going from 400,000 followers to 23.7 million since the show’s premiere. “My entire life changed in just one month,” Jung told Vogue. Now the dystopian drama is making history during awards season, too.
With four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, Squid Game is the first non-English-language series and first Korean series to score a nod. In addition, O Yeong-su, who plays fan-favorite Oh Il-nam, became the first South Korean actor to win a Golden Globe. “Now it’s no longer ‘us within the world,’ but it’s ‘the world within us.’ While embracing the scent of our culture and while embracing the love for my family deep in my heart, I give thanks to everyone in the world,” Yeong-su said in a statement. He follows in the footsteps of Youn Yuh-jung, who became the first South Korean actor to win an Academy Award in 2021, for her best supporting role in Minari.
“Since we released the show Squid Game, we have experienced many surprising events. But today’s nomination for four categories with the SAG has to be one of the most surprising, and one of the happiest moments we’ve experienced,” director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety. Regarding a second season, the director adds, “What I will say is that I am picturing what it would be like if there was to be one. But all of these nominations and recognitions at the awards, and hopefully what will continue onward, definitely encourage us and motivate me.”
As we await more awards ceremonies, here’s the full list of wins, nods and pending nominations the groundbreaking series has received this year:
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Feb. 27, 2022 Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominations: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung, Anupam Tripathi, Heo Sung-tae, O Yeong-su and Kim Joo-ryoung
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Nomination: Lee Jung-jae
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nomination: HoYeon Jung
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series Nomination
Golden Globe Awards
Jan. 9, 2022 Best Supporting Actor, Television Winner: O Yeong-su
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama Nomination: Lee Jung-jae
Best Television Series, Drama Nomination
Critics’ Choice Television Awards
March 13, 2022 Best Actor in a Drama Series Nomination: Lee Jung-jae
Best Drama Series Nomination
Best Foreign Language Series Nomination
Peoples’ Choice Awards
Dec. 7, 2021 Bingeworthy Show of the Year Winner
Gotham Awards
Nov. 29, 2021 Breakthrough Series, Long Form Winner: Kim Ji-yeon and Hwang Dong-hyuk
Outstanding Performance in a New Series Nomination: Lee Jung-jae
Film Independent Spirit Awards
March 6, 2022 Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series Nomination: Lee Jung-jae
