David Fincher is set to begin filming the dystopian survival thriller Squid Game: America this year. The director is currently working on The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a spin-off of the hit Hollywood movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Quentin Tarantino is working on the script, but when he’s wrapped up with that, his new project is set to begin almost immediately.
The Success of the Squid Game Franchise
The success of Squid Game comes down to the fact that audiences are naturally drawn to high-stakes narratives. The franchise features ordinary people who have the chance of winning a cash prize, which is something we see a lot in the media.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Was able to build a huge audience regarding the suspense of cash prizes. Deal or No Deal also turned cash prizes into entertaining scenarios, some of which have generated millions of views on YouTube.
The franchise was so successful that it even went on to become a bingo game. Deal or No Deal 90-ball bingo can be played by either depositing or claiming a bingo bonus. Some bingo bonuses also give players a chance to win up to £3,000 a day, again. Even though the outcome is random, cash prizes are a huge part of our entertainment world.
Lottery draws, like The National Lottery, also feature huge giveaways, reminding us how Squid Game took this concept but shaped it into something unique. The success of Squid Game cannot be overstated either; it is Netflix’s most successful series to date, and it generated $900 million from a budget of just $21 million.
It also ended up being the first non-English show to take the number one spot in every country where the platform has a presence. A US version of the South Korean show has been talked about for quite some time now, but if things go to plan, it could begin filming in a matter of months.
Speculation Has Begun About the Filming of a New Show
A submission on the Film & Television Industry Alliance’s website shows that the new series had a shoot date on February 26th, 2026.
We do know, however, that the filming hasn’t started yet, as the director has been wrapped up with another project. A summary for the show also says that it will be set in the same world, but it will also show how things work in America.
The writer for the new series is Dennis Kelly, who is behind Utopia, the Channel 4 series. Fincher had plans to remake this at one point. Kelly has also been responsible for writing the World War Z script, which Fincher was lined up to direct before things took a turn.
According to the listing, there are potentially some big names lined up for the show as well. Cate Blanchett has been listed as one of the actresses to play a major part, which is interesting as she had a cameo in season three of the show.
Hwang Dong-hyuk said at the time that this was not a tease for what could come next, but it seems that things have changed since then.
