K-Drama History Part 5: The Squid Game Era — How One Show Made the Whole World Watch Korean TV
π· Photo: Netflix Korea · 2026
If you only remember one date from this whole series, make it September 17, 2021. That's the day Squid Game dropped on Netflix and quietly, then very loudly, changed what the entire planet thought Korean television could be. We left off Part 4 talking about the streaming revolution — Goblin, Crash Landing on You, Netflix buying in. This part is about what happened when that bet paid off in a way nobody, not even Netflix, actually expected.
What Happened: From "Promising Niche" to Literal Records
Before Squid Game, K-dramas were a fast-growing but still secondary category on Netflix. After Squid Game, they were the category Netflix built entire press conferences around. Within 28 days of release, the show had been watched in over 142 million member households and racked up 1.65 billion viewing hours, numbers that made it Netflix's biggest launch ever at the time, beating Bridgerton outright. It hit number one in 94 countries. Ninety-four. That's not a regional hit crossing over, that's a near-total global takeover.
And it didn't stop at viewership. At the 2022 Emmys, Squid Game became the first non-English-language series ever nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, and walked away with six wins including Lee Jung-jae's historic Outstanding Lead Actor win — the first for an Asian actor in a non-English role. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk took Outstanding Directing the same night. None of that had ever happened for Korean content before, on that stage, in that category.
The Soil Was Already Fertile
It's worth saying plainly: Squid Game didn't happen in a vacuum. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite had already broken the Academy in 2020, becoming the first non-English film to win Best Picture. Yoon Yuh-jung won an Oscar for Minari in 2021. Park Chan-wook took Best Director at Cannes for Decision to Leave. Korean storytelling was already winning over critics; Squid Game is what happened when that same storytelling met Netflix's global distribution machine and a premise — class inequality dressed up as childhood games — that translated instantly across language and culture.
The Industry Reshapes Around It
What came after Squid Game is arguably the bigger story. Disney+, Apple, and other streamers all dramatically increased investment in Korean-language originals almost overnight, chasing the same effect. Netflix doubled down hard, greenlighting a second season (December 2024) and a third, final season (June 2025), both filmed back-to-back, while also funding a wave of new Korean originals across genres. Squid Game: The Experience opened in five cities worldwide. A mobile game spinoff hit number one on app charts in over 100 countries. This wasn't a show anymore, it was infrastructure for an entire industry's global expansion.
And the dramas that followed rode that same wave straight into mainstream Western conversation. Crash Course in Romance, Queen of Tears, and a steady stream of Netflix Korea originals stopped being "that show my friend who's into K-dramas recommended" and started being normal pop culture references. Recent hits like μ°Έκ΅μ‘ (Teach You a Lesson) and shows like Doctor on the Edge are proof the pipeline never slowed down — they're landing with built-in global audiences that simply didn't exist for K-dramas pre-2021.
π°π· THE KOREAN SIDE
Inside Korea, there's real pride mixed with some pointed commentary about timing. Industry discussion on Korean entertainment boards has repeatedly noted that Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote Squid Game over a decade before it got made, originally as a film, and that for years no studio wanted to fund it because the concept was considered too dark and too expensive. The general sentiment is some version of "we always knew our stories were this good, we just needed someone to actually greenlight them." There's also ongoing conversation about whether Korean creators are getting fair compensation relative to the value they're generating for global platforms, a debate that's only intensified as Netflix's K-content slate has grown.
π THE GLOBAL SIDE
For a lot of international viewers, Squid Game was a genuine first encounter with Korean television, and the global reaction reflected that "wait, this is what we've been missing?" energy. Duolingo reported a 40% spike in people learning Korean right after Season 1 dropped. The "Korean or Get Eaten" TikTok sound generated over 77 million videos. Halloween costume searches for Squid Game characters outnumbered every other film or TV property that year. For Western audiences specifically, it functioned as a gateway, and a lot of people who started with Squid Game ended up working backward into the K-drama catalog Korea had been building for two decades.
π THE GAP
The gap is really about framing. Korean audiences and industry insiders tend to see Squid Game as validation of something that was already true — Korean storytelling was always this strong, the world just wasn't watching yet. Global audiences, especially newer fans, often talk about it as a discovery moment, the start of their K-drama interest rather than a continuation of something with a long history. Neither view is wrong, but they explain why some Korean commentary carries a slight "finally" undertone that doesn't always come through in Western coverage of the show's success.
Why It Matters
Squid Game is the hinge point this entire history series has been building toward. Everything covered in Parts 1 through 4 — the early melodramas, the Hallyu wave, the romance era, the streaming pivot — created the conditions for a Korean show to be ready when a global platform needed exactly that kind of story. And everything that's happened since, every Netflix Korea original that gets a worldwide same-day release now, every English-speaking fan casually discussing a K-drama plot twist online, traces back to what this one show proved was possible.
FAQ
Q: Is Squid Game actually the highest-rated K-drama in Netflix history?
A: It's Netflix's most-watched series ever at global launch, surpassing Bridgerton, and Season 1 remains certified fresh with all three seasons receiving generally positive reviews.
Q: How many seasons of Squid Game are there?
A: Three. Season 1 (September 2021), Season 2 (December 2024), and Season 3, the final season (June 2025).
Q: Did Squid Game's success actually help other K-dramas?
A: Yes, measurably. Streamers significantly increased investment in Korean originals after 2021, and shows that followed benefited from a global audience that simply didn't exist for K-dramas at this scale before Squid Game.
Era covered: 2021–2026
Defining show: Squid Game (Netflix, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk)
Season 1 release: September 17, 2021
Milestone: First non-English series nominated for Emmy Outstanding Drama Series; 6 Emmy wins
Industry impact: Surge in global streamer investment in Korean originals
Recent era hits: Crash Course in Romance, Queen of Tears, μ°Έκ΅μ‘ (Teach You a Lesson), Doctor on the Edge
π¬ Jamie's Take
"Honestly, as someone who grew up watching K-dramas get treated like a niche corner of the internet, I still get a little emotional writing about Squid Game's Emmy wins. I remember explaining what a K-drama even was to friends back home, and now I don't have to anymore — they've usually already seen one. That's not a small shift. That's a whole industry getting the global respect it always deserved, just a couple decades later than it should have."
Comments
Post a Comment