It may seem like a flawlessly scripted masterpiece (which it is), but Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae has revealed that the cast actually improvised a lot during the production of the Netflix show, too.
The slick drama follows desperate members of the public as they compete to win millions by taking part in children’s games in a strange tournament.
There’s a cash prize of 45.6 billion won (£28m) at stake if the contestants manage to beat the competition and win – but there’s a major downside: if they lose, they die, and in increasingly brutal circumstances.
The series has taken the world by storm, and Jimmy Fallon was as keen as any of us to find out the details as the stars appeared on The Tonight Show.
Confirming that a lot of it was down to the actors, Lee, who plays Seong Gi-hun, said: ‘There was definitely a lot of improv during the shoots.’
He added: ‘The one thing I remember is the scene where [Jung Ho-yeon’s character] Say-byeok and my character Gi-hun run into each other for the first time. I bump into her and actually make her drop her coffee.
‘Typically, you would just pick it up and hand it to her but I noticed the straw on the ground so I improvised and tried to stick the straw back into the cup.’
The acclaimed nine-episode series stars Lee and Jung along with Park Hae-soo and Wi Ha-joon, and is the first-ever Korean programme to land at number one on Netflix.
The stars themselves are still struggling to wrap their head around the show’s sudden success.
Park, who plays Cho Sang Woo, said: ‘I am so thankful that so many of my folks are watching this through so many media outlets, but I feel it even more at this very moment, it’s real. I feel it in my bones.’
While the show has been praised worldwide, it hasn’t been all positive.
It was recently reported that a broadband provider in South Korea was suing the streaming platform, due to the hit show causing a traffic surge.
In a statement to CNBC, a Netflix spokesperson said: ‘We will review the claim that SK Broadband has filed against us.
‘In the meantime, we continue to seek open dialogue and explore ways of working with SK Broadband in order to ensure a seamless streaming experience for our shared customers.’
Squid Game is available to stream on Netflix
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