Squid Game: Netflix show becomes first foreign-language series to earn Screen Actors Guild award nomination

Dystopian K-drama has earned four SAG award nominations, including best drama ensemble

Netflix’s smash hit Squid Game has become the first foreign-language TV series to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award.

Hwang Dong-hyuk’s dystopian show will compete against shows such as Succession, The Morning Show, and The Handmaid’s Tale for the 2022 award for best drama ensemble.

Tick Tick...BOOM! actor Vanessa Hudgens and Dopesick star Rosario Dawson announced the full list of nominees in an Instagram Live on Wednesday (12 January).

Squid Game actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-yeon are also in the running for best male and female actor in a drama series, respectively. With a nomination for best stunt ensemble as well, the show is up for four SAG awards this year.

Hwang called the historic nominations the “happiest moment” since the show’s creation.

In a statement published by Deadline, the director said: “The fact [that] not just one or two leading actors were recognised, but the whole cast was nominated as the best ensemble. It brings me great joy...just being nominated.”

Meanwhile, Jung, who played North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok in the show, said: “We’ve been watching a lot of American TV and film, and to be one of those nominated is crazy.”

‘Squid Game’ cast members Lee Jung-jae, Jung Ho-yeon, and Park Hae-Soo, with director Hwang Dong-hyuk at a red carpet event (2021 Invision)

The show, about a group of debt-ridden people who compete in a series of deadly games to win a jackpot cash prize, was released on Netflix in September.

A month later, Netflix announced that Squid Game had become the streamer’s most-watched television series after a record 111 million viewers tuned into the K-drama.

Netflix’s hit show took home one award during the recently concluded Golden Globes award ceremony, which took place on Sunday (9 January). O Yeong-su was honoured as the Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series for the 77-year-old Korean actor’s performance of Il-nam, also known as “the old man” on Squid Game.

In November 2021, Hwang confirmed that the hit Netflix series had been renewed for a second season – after Squid Game mania surged across the world, spawning viral internet challenges, restaurant menus, and YouTube videos.

At the time, the director had said: “There’s been so much pressure, so much demand, and so much love for a second season, so I almost feel like [viewers] leave us no choice.”

The 28th SAG Awards ceremony will air on 27 February 2022 at 5pm Pacific Time on TNT and TBS.