Record-Breaking Netflix Series Fixes Sights on Awards Season 

After thrilling millions of viewers around the world, Netflix’s Korean original series phenomenon Squid Game has its sights set on awards season. The show has been nominated at the Gotham Independent Film Awards for Breakthrough Series – Long Format, while series lead Lee Jungjae is among the nominees in the Outstanding Performance in a New Series category.

The show is going up against acclaimed series such as Steve McQueen’s Small Axe and the Barry Jenkins show The Underground Railroad in the Breakthrough Series competition. Lee’s Outstanding Performance competitors include Ethan Hawke in The Good Lord Bird and Jennifer Coolidge from The White Lotus.

The debut drama series by Silenced (2011) and Miss Granny (2014) filmmaker Hwang Donghyuk, Squid Game launched on Netflix on September 17 and quickly reached the top ranking in markets around the world. Becoming an unprecedented success the show has become the streaming giant’s most successful series, with 142 million accounts tuning over the show’s first four weeks.

New World (2013) and DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2020) star Lee leads the series as a debt-riddled father who is invited to a mysterious competition along with 455 other participants. Waking up in a secret location all wearing green tracksuits, the players find themselves taking part in playground games with deadly twists in pursuit of a KRW 45.6 billion cash prize.