Who is Player 001 in Squid Game Season 2? Character explored

Squid Game season 2 intentionally repeats arguably the biggest plot twist from the first season of the show. Squid Game Season 1 presented the character of Player 001 or Oh Il-nam as a rather helpless old man who is drawn into the lethal games. He befriends the lead character, Gi-hun, in Squid Game season 1, and accompanies him throughout the games.

Following the various hurdles, his character is believed to have been killed off by the guards at one point, only to be revealed later as one of the founders of the Squid Game.

In a similar vein, Squid Game season 2 has The Front Man, also known as In-ho, disguising himself as Young-il and entering the games himself as Player 001. However, contrary to the first season, the audience of the second season is privy to the true identity of Player 001 right from the outset, which makes the narrative more intriguing as Gi-hun is still in the dark about this nefarious duplicity.

The reason behind The Front Man entering Squid Game himself is to primarily break down Gi-hun's spirit as he returns to the games for a second time, with the sole aim of causing disruption from within.

Squid Game Season 2 Player 001 true identity and other details

Squid Game season 2 lead Gi-hun is a humanist who has compassion for other human beings. This is evident from his attempts to save the other contestants from being killed during the second iteration of the infamous Red Light Green Light game that once again kicks off the second season's brutal contest.

However, unlike Gi-hun, In-ho is decidedly pessimistic and does not believe that people are inherently good or that the world is a place worth saving. He is of the opinion that there is nothing good in this world.

As a result, In-ho is intrigued by Gi-hun, in the same way that Oh Il-nam was in the first season. Although In-ho is determined to foil Gi-hun's plans to shut down Squid Game, he intends to know more about Gi-hun's source of perseverance. After the second season reveals the true identity of In-ho to the audience, he assumes the fake identity of Young-il and joins the games as Player 001.

Young-il befriends Gi-hun after voting to continue the games following the first stage. He comes across as an ally of Gi-hun until the latter's rebellion is foiled. He then orders the guards to mercilessly crush the rising and murders Gi-hun's dear friend Jung-bae.

Lee Jung-jae speaks about the character of Player 001 aka The Front man

Following the success of Squid Game season 2, actor Lee Jung-jae spoke about his experience of playing the character of Player 001 in an exclusive interview with Variety magazine. He commented:

"I think it’s kind of fun because only the audience knows that it’s him so it’s more tense for them to watch him in the game, forming this alliance with Gi-hun. I think all the viewers will be thinking about is when Gi-hun will finally realize that he is The Front Man, or what game he can go until without revealing his identity.”

While describing his character, Jung-jae further added:

"He’s really seen kind of the bottom pit of humanity and in the midst of the violence and desperation of Squid Game, his hope for humanity and the world has really dwindled. He has this very pessimistic view of the people in the world around him.”

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Squid Game season 2 is available exclusively on Netflix.

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