Squid Game took the world by storm by dominating the rankings for months since it made a global debut.
The genius behind the huge craze was director Hwang Dong Hyuk, the creator behind the huge success of the Netflix thriller series.
The nine-part episode K-drama follows the story of 456 debt-ridden participants whose only goal is to be the sole survivor who could take home $38.6 million.
While viewers were in awe of how the series executed every episode beautifully, the hotshot director revealed to Deadline that it took him 10 years to finish Squid Game.
Following his long journey of completing the series, Hwang Dong Hyuk revealed that several studios rejected his story.
Looking back on his journey, he said, “I first came out with the idea of the script in 2008, and that was when the whole Lehman Brothers crisis had driven the economy into turmoil.”
Moreover, the 50-year-old South Korean filmmaker shared the inspiration behind Squid Game.
“At the time, I had a lot of time on my hands, I had to kill time, so I would visit what we called cartoon book cafes in Korea and read a lot of those Battle Royale like cartoon books.”
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Was Hwang Dong Hyuk’s Like the Squid Game Character Seong Gi Hoon?
Aside from his challenging journey to create the survival game theme series, the main character’s life, Seong Gi Hoon, who played Lee Jung Jae, was somehow similar to the life of Dong Hyuk.
In the same interview, Hwang Dong Hyuk shared that he wanted to create something like Squid Game” despite being broke and having “no money.”
After he was able to finish the whole story, the director received an unfavorable response saying that it was “too unrealistic” and “too violent to be commercially viable.”
Luckily, the universe conspired after Netflix gave the green light to produce Hwang Dong Hyuk’s Squid Game.
Now, the 9-part episode series is the streaming giant’s “biggest show yet” after surpassing the reign of the American period drama series Bridgerton.
Did the Squid Game mania affect Hwang Dong Hyuk’s net worth with his newfound fame and undeniable success?
What is Hwang Dong Hyuk’s Net Worth?
From broke to a millionaire, Squid Game did not only skyrocketed the lead stars and the director’s fame but also their wealth.
Hwang Dong Hyuk’s net worth stands around 5 million USD, as noted by Exactnetworth.com.
With the upcoming second season, it is safe to say that his net worth will surely increase, given that fans are looking forward to the highly anticipated sequel.
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