Squid Game wins Emmy awards for best actor, director

LOS ANGELES, California -- Netflix mega-hit Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk each bagged an Emmy trophy Monday night in Los Angeles, making the South Korean thriller drama the first non-English TV series winner in the 74-year history of the prestigious US TV industry awards.

Lee, who played the role of Seong Gi-hun in the dystopian series, won Outstanding Lead Actor in a drama series at the Primetime Emmy Awards, beating world-renowned stars including Brian Cox of Succession. Lee is the first non-English performer and South Korean actor to win an Emmy.

The deadly survival drama’s director and writer Hwang took home the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a drama series for its first episode, Red Light, Green Light, beating competitors such as Jason Bateman of Ozark and Cathy Yan of Succession.

"I believe I have to say we've all made history together," Hwang said in his acceptance speech. "I truly hope Squid Game won't be the last non-English series to be here at the Emmys, and I also hope this won't be my last Emmy either."

Squid Game earlier this month won four more Emmy awards -- Outstanding Guest Actress in a drama for Lee Yoo-Mi; Player 240, Stunt Performance; Production Design for a narrative contemporary program; and Special Visual Effects in a single episode.

Oh Young-soo, a Golden Globe winner as Player 001, and Park Hae-soo, Player 218, were also nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a drama series.

FIRST AWARDS FOR NON-ENGLISH DRAMA

The Emmy Awards have never awarded nor nominated a non-English work or an Asian actor for any prize.

“It is a message that a good program, which is made in a non-English speaking culture, can be evaluated well and work in the global market,” said South Korean pop culture critic Jung Duk-hyun, referring to the many awards won by Squid Game.

“It is symbolic and significant since it widely opens the global content market for South Korean work.”

Squid Game was a global phenomenon as it was Netflix’s most popular show ever with a record of 1.65 billion hours of viewing in 28 days following its premiere on Sept. 17, 2021.

LANGUAGE IS NOT EVERYTHING

South Korean dramas and films have had difficulty expanding their presence beyond Asia into the West due to the language issue.

Director Bong Joon-ho of Parasite mentioned the problem after winning Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes in January 2020.

"Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films," Bong said.

It was not easy, especially for dramas, to narrow the cultural gap. Local viewers feel the gap even more in drama series since they are usually longer than movies.

Squid Game, however, simply broke the barrier.

“It showed there are many ways for communication and a language is not the only one,” lead actor Lee told South Korean reporters in Los Angeles. “It is more important to contain a message that many people can share.”

MORE EVIDENCE OF K-CONTENT’S GLOBAL POPULARITY

The Emmy wins are further evidence of the global popularity of South Korean cultural products, so-called K-content.

Last year, national legend Youn Yuh-jung became the first South Korean actress to win an Oscar at the Academy Awards.

In 2020, Parasite won various prestigious Oscars including the one for best picture at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.

Squid Game has helped many South Korean actors and actresses achieve fame. Lee, who has starred in many dramas and films such as New World in 2013 over about 30 years, became a global star with Squid Game. He was known to have been selected for the lead role in the new Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte.

Meanwhile, Squid Game’s competitor Succession, the hit HBO show, took home the award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 2022 Emmy Awards.

Squid Game’s director Hwang said he will do his best to win the best drama Emmy next year for the second season of the series, which is in production.

“They started with ‘S’ when they announced the winner, so I thought it could be Squid Game,” Hwang said with a laugh during a press conference with South Korean reporters in Los Angeles. 

“I hope we can win the Outstanding Drama Series award for season two. We will try to make sure that this is not our last Emmy.”

Write to Kiyeol Seo and Hee-Kyung Kim at philos@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.