14 h. ago ‘People like happy endings. Sorry!’ Squid Game’s brutal finale hits new heights of barbarity

As the shockingly violent anticapitalist hit returns, its star and creator talk about spinoffs, the dangers of desensitisation, David Fincher’s mooted remake – and why they couldn’t say no to tie-ins with McDonald’s and UberWhen season two of Squid Game dropped, fans were split in their response to Netflix’s hit Korean drama. While some viewers loved the dialled-up-to-11 intensity of everything – more characters, more drama, more staggering brutality – others found the tone relentlessly bleak. And this was a show whose original concept – a cabal of rich benefactors recruit poor people to compete in bloodsports for cash – was already plenty dark. Anyone hoping the show’s third and final season, arriving this week, will provide a reprieve should probably just rewatch Emily in Paris instead.“The tone is going to be more dark and bleak,” says series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, through an interpreter. “The world, as I observe it, has less hope. I wanted to explore questions like, ‘What is t...

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17 h. ago Netflix's Squid Game creator lifts lid on what geometric shapes really mean

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has shared his favourite part of making the Netflix series.

Politics

2 d. ago Squid Game: the show’s worst characters are back and they’re as unbelievably wooden as ever

The South Korean smash hit drama that gripped global audiences returns for a final instalment. It’s brutal, cruel and, sadly, brings back the animal-mask wearing VIPs whose season one appearance caused global mockeryLook alive – Squid Game returns this week! There’s still no sign of any squid, which is the kind of false advertising that ruined The Pink Panther. But that’s good, because squid are terrifying. Once, showing off on holiday, I offered to cook for a group of friends. I didn’t speak the language where we were, and ended up leaving the fishmonger with a big bag of tentacles. As I attempted to remove the head, guts, beak and skin of the creatures, their internal sacs burst, coating me in viscous black ink. I suffered an allergic reaction, don’t eat squid any more, and don’t see those friends.Squid Game the TV show (Netflix, Friday 26 June) has proved even more traumatising. Set on a hidden island, the competition pits hundreds of desperate, indebted people aga...

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4 d. ago Netflix Squid Game stars promise fans 'won't be disappointed' by 'wild' ending for season 3

The stars of Netflix's biggest show ever have spoken out about some of the crazy twists and turns to come

Sport

6 d. ago Netflix Squid Game creator shares 'mixed feelings' about show's ending at London premiere

Squid Game season three premiered in London on Thursday with the official Netflix release date being June 27 for the final season of the record-breaking show.

Politics

1 week ago Netflix's Squid Game to have most 'brutal scenes yet' that will 'horrify viewers'

Squid Game is set to shock viewers when it returns for its final series later this month. The opening episode will see players compete in a game of hide and seek that has been given a warped twist

Politics

1 week ago Squid Game: new fried chicken concept launches spicy challenge with Netflix show

A new Korean-style fried chicken concept aims to let people get more involved in Netflix’s most popular TV show

Politics

1 week ago ‘Don’t try to keep the dead alive’ – Liam Payne’s new Netflix show can only be totally creepy TV right?

When a star dies, shows are left in a terrible quandary – carry on, use ham-fisted CGI or axe the thing entirely. As Payne appears in Building the Band, we delve into the unnerving world of posthumous televisionAt first glance, Netflix’s new series Building the Band comes off as a weird amalgam of every singing competition show you loved a decade and a half ago. There’s the core DNA of X Factor. The singers perform out of sight of everyone else, so it cribs from The Voice. Clearly, there’s heavy borrowing from Making the Band. Plus, this is Netflix, so everything looks a bit like Squid Game.But this odd mishmash of a format isn’t what will keep you away from Building the Band. No, what will keep you away from Building the Band is the posthumous appearance of Liam Payne. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago New on Netflix in June 2025, including dramatic end of biggest TV series

The next 30 days will lead to an end of an era for the streaming service

Events

3 w. ago Squid Game star ‘nervous’ for final season as trailer drops for hit series

Third season set to release on 27 June

Sport

3 w. ago The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey review – beyond the bounds of fiction

You can read it from either end, and go round again, as memoir collides with invention in a brilliant interrogation of art, faith and relationshipsFrom her debut, Nobody Is Ever Missing, to 2023’s Biography of X, Catherine Lacey’s work has tested the forms and fabric of the novel with brilliant unease. In The Möbius Book, her experiment crosses the blurred border of fiction into something else. Life writing, autofiction, memoir? Whatever you call it, The Möbius Book is deeply serious and engrossingly playful, and it lavishly rewards serious, playful attention.A Möbius strip is a length of any material joined into a loop with a half twist. It’s an uncanny shape, common and obvious, easily created and yet awkward to describe geometrically. For literary purposes, a Möbius is interesting because there’s intricate structure and constraint but no ending. It goes around again, mirrored with a twist. Lacey’s book takes this literally, the text printed from both ends, with memoir and fiction...

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3 w. ago Netflix reveals details about Lady Gaga on 'Wednesday,' 'Squid Game' and 'Stranger Things' finales

Netflix has unveiled unveiled details about its upcoming slate of offerings at a live event in Inglewood, California

Sport