Squid Game wins big at Emmys 2022; Lee Jung-jae first Asian to win Outstanding Lead Actor award

Korean survival drama Squid Game has won big at the recently concluded Emmys 2022 award ceremony. The K-drama made history by winning in six out of the 14 categories it was nominated in.

Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae won the award for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his character Seong Gi-Hun. Jung-jae has become the first Asian actor to win the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award and the first one to win this award for a non-English speaking role.

Lee beat fellow nominees Bob Odenkirk, Brian Cox, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Strong and Adam Scott in this category. Besides Lee, director Hwang Dong-hyuk was the first Asian and South Korean creator to take the trophy home for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.

Other awards for Squid Game are Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Lee You-mi), Outstanding Stunt Performance, Outstanding Special Visual Effects and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program.

Meanwhile, the second season of the show is also in the works and will be a slightly more violent satire wherein marginalised sections of the society compete in fatal versions of children’s games for money. Netflix dropped a very short teaser of the show’s new season which featured an animatronic doll with the caption, “Red Light… GREENLIGHT! Squid Game is officially coming back for Season 2!”

Netflix also shared a note by the creator of the dystopian show along with the teaser. This note read, “It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year. But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever.”

Squid Game focuses on cash-strapped players who accept an invitation to compete in children’s games but with a ghastly twist. A tempting prize awaits them with deadly stakes where only one person would get the chance to win $35 million. The K-drama, airing on Netflix, features Lee Jung-jae, HoYeon Jung, Lee Yoo-Mi, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Oh Young-soo, Anupam Tripathi and Kim Jo-ryoung in significant roles.

Also read: Netflix announces second season of hit K-drama 'Squid Game'

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