Squid Game creator reveals shock earnings from first series despite it becoming Netflix’s biggest ever show

Hwang Dong-hyuk has opened up about some of the difficulties he faced when making the first season of Squid Game

Squid Game was watched by over 142 million households in the first four weeks after its initial release in September 2021 and saw an additional 4.4 million subscribers sign up to Netflix in its wake.

In a letter to investors, the streaming service said, as quoted by The Guardian: “The breadth of Squid Game’s popularity is truly amazing.”

However, Dong-hyuk revealed to the BBC he was initially hesitant to make another season of the series.

Why? Well, not only did he lose ‘eight or nine’ teeth during filming – which is reason enough to be fair – but there were other reasons he questioned whether it was worth it or not.

And one major factor he considered was the ‘money’.

Hwang Dong-hyuk has opened up about how much he was paid for Squid Game series one (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Dong-hyuk was reportedly forced to take out several loans to support his family while he battled for a decade to get Squid Game made.

Thankfully, Netflix then got on board, however, despite the series becoming one of the most recognizable on the platform and making the streaming service an estimated $900 million, this didn’t make much of a difference when it came to the director’s money situation.

He revealed: “Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much.”

Dong-hyuk said he didn’t earn any residuals from the show (Netflix)

Despite the series going on to become such a hit, the creator reportedly forfeited all intellectual property rights when he first made the deal with Netflix and subsequently was paid upfront and made no residuals from the show nor bonus.

In an interview with The Guardian, Dong-hyuk said: “I’m not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it’s not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract.”

And the money was something the creator considered when debating whether to create a second season or not, with the director revealing not only did he decide to go ahead with a follow-up because he ‘didn’t fully finish the story’ but he also committed to it knowing it would ultimately ‘help compensate [him] for the success of the first one too’.