Netflix is allegedly developing an American version of its renowned South Korean thriller Squid Game, and the famous director David Fincher is at the top of their wishlist to lead the project. Industry insider Jeff Sneider from The Hot Mic podcast stated that “Netflix is trying to attract David Fincher to produce and direct an American version of Squid Game.” Sneider cleared that he has no idea if Fincher involved with Netflix on this matter. Nevertheless, multiple sources claim that Netflix “intensely” desires Fincher to take on the project.
Fincher made his debut as a feature director with Alien 3 in 1992, and since then, he has directed several critically acclaimed movies such as Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999), Zodiac (2007), The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Gone Girl (2014), among others. His most recent film, Mank, premiered as a Netflix original in 2020 and nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning two. Furthermore, Fincher’s upcoming film, The Killer, also expected to air exclusively on Netflix in November. Regarding television shows, Fincher has worked on various Netflix series such as House of Cards, Mindhunter, Love, Death & Robots, and Voir.
Netflix has this madness with The Squid Game
Squid Game was an enormous victory for Netflix, and assuming Sneider’s information is accurate, it is unsurprising that Netflix would want to capitalize on the immense success of the Korean thriller. The Korean-language series gained overnight success when it first aired in September 2021, with the nine-episode first season garnering 1.65 billion viewing hours in just four weeks to become the most-watched Netflix series of all time. Apart from its impressive viewership figures, Season was also widely acclaim by both audiences and critics.
Created, written, and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Season is about the indebted contestants of a twisted game, in which players participate in various children’s games, and losing means death. The last player standing wins a cash prize of ₩45.6 billion KRW (approximately $35.1 million USD at the time of writing). In January 2022, Netflix officially renewed Squid Game for Season 2, and filming is set to start this summer. Meanwhile, Netflix is presently working on Season: The Challenge, a reality program based on Hwang’s show in which real individuals compete for a cash prize.
While Netflix has not confirmed an American adaptation of Season, the streaming platform reimagining existing shows for different markets is not unheard of. For instance, Netflix is the worldwide distributor of the Spanish-language thriller Money Heist, which aired from 2017 to 2021. In 2022, Netflix introduced Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, a Korean-language adaptation of the original series featuring a new cast but the same characters and storyline.
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