This article contains major character or plot details.
For years, Lee Byung-hun has known that Squid Game is a huge, worldwide phenomenon. However, he only truly felt that achievement in the immediate run-up to Season 2’s debut on Dec. 26. As Lee points out, his character, the enigmatic Front Man, was more of a “cameo appearance” than anything in Season 1, which debuted in 2021.
“So at the time, I wasn’t part of any of the promotional efforts,” Lee tells Tudum, sitting alongside Squid Game’s creator and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk. That changed earlier this month, during the bustling Seoul premiere event celebrating Season 2. In the new episodes, Lee not only portrays Front Man, but returns to the competition as the new Player 001 under the name Young-il.
“It really started to sink in [at the premiere] that this is a series that the entire world is anticipating, and that it is truly an amazing and phenomenal series,” Lee says. “I was quite awestruck.”
Fans will feel similarly amazed when they dig into Squid Game Season 2, which is now streaming. Not only do the new episodes dazzle with terrifying stakes and unforgettable games, but they’re also devastating in unexpected ways, like the slow, tragic reveal of Front Man’s backstory, which explains how a decorated police officer risked it all and won Squid Game. Also unveiled: how that victor went on to become the ruthless host of the games, someone who “believes that there is absolutely no hope for the world or humanity,” Lee says.
Lee — who has led beloved Korean series like Mr. Sunshine, as well as Hollywood films, including 2016’s The Magnificent Seven — relished figuring out the truth of the Front Man, while also juggling the three separate personas of the Front Man, Player 001, and In-ho, the man he was before the games. The experience was “intense and very demanding” for the actor — as well as rewarding.
“The most important thing in bringing this character to life in Season 2 was incessantly discussing the expression [in each scene] with the director,” he says. “Having to give different nuances to each of these three aspects [of the Front Man] was the most challenging — as well as the most fun — for me as an actor.”
According to Lee, in Episode 6, you can see the clearest depictions of all three of his personas in one scene. During that installment, the Squid Game contestants play Mingle, in which they are tasked with grouping themselves into a specific number and entering a locked room together. During a round in which the group number must consist of exactly two people, Front Man (or Player 001, to everyone around him) and trusting player Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) enter a room with another person already in it. To get their group number down to precisely two, the Front Man quickly and easily kills the stranger, choking him and then breaking his neck. Front Man doesn’t even blink. Jung-bae can only stare at the gruesome tableau in horror.
“You get In-ho, Yong-il, and the Front Man in that single scene,” Lee says. “There was such a rush of mixed emotions that I felt there, something very unique and strange. I hope that’s something that can be felt by the audience too when they watch that scene.”
Lee was able to pull off this kind of performance through consistent collaboration with director Hwang. While the actor jokes that he “almost annoyed” Squid Game’s creator with all of his questions, Hwang says he couldn’t be more pleased with the final result. The writer calls Front Man’s decision to enter the game under the guise of Player 001 “the most important aspect of Season 2.” The ensuing existential battle between Front Man and protagonist Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is the central tension of the new episodes: While Front Man has given into his distaste for society, Gi-hun continues to believe that people can be selfless.
“Front Man returns to the game wanting to enlighten Gi-hun — wanting to teach Gi-hun and make him think the way he does about the world and mankind,” Lee explains.
The new season is peppered with moments where Front Man nearly convinces Gi-hun to come around to his way of thinking. In one of their first conversations in the game, Front Man attempts to change how Gi-hun views his Season 1 winnings, telling him that saving the money won’t bring his fallen players back to life. He then reminds Gi-hun that the game’s new voting element — wherein players must vote X (to leave) or O (to continue) — is flawed. Even if Front Man had voted X after Red Light, Green Light, it’s unlikely his fellow players would return to happy lives, or thank him for his decision. Later in the season — after the aforementioned Mingle scenario — Front Man tells Gi-hun a cold truth Player 456 isn’t ready to reckon with: Team X will win only if more players from the other side had died in that round. Any success in the game is covered in blood.
Yet Gi-hun’s optimism also rubs off on Front Man. “At some point, you can feel he is actually enjoying himself in the game. He’s excited, he’s nervous,” Lee explains. “While he went back to the game wanting to change the way Gi-hun viewed the world, on some level, subconsciously, he looks at Gi-hun, who refuses to let go of the hope that he carries for humanity, and that reminds In-ho of himself.”
Gi-hun’s compassion is so contagious that “there’s a very small part of Front Man that is actually rooting for Gi-hun along the way,” Lee says. However, the character’s allegiance to his Front Man persona is too strong. In the Season 2 finale, he crushes the players’ rebellion and returns to his cloak and black mask. In a final bid to sap Gi-hun of all his faith, Front Man kills Jung-bae. Lee believes Front Man must have experienced “mixed emotions” before pulling the trigger on someone with whom he recently shared such camaraderie. But for the Front Man, the game always comes first.
“Because his biggest goal is to let Gi-hun know that he was wrong, he wanted to choose the most extreme way possible to make his point,” Lee says.
Although Front Man spends most of Season 2 in a player tracksuit, Hwang explains there’s no denying who he really is by the end of Episode 7. “[Jung-bae’s murder] is really the climax of Season 2,” Hwang says. “You could say that Front Man starts off the season with his mask off, but then returns to himself. He ends Season 2 with his mask back on.”
So, keep coming back to Tudum to find out what Front Man’s next moves will be ahead of Squid Game Season 3’s 2025 debut.
Meet the Cast of Squid Game Season 2
