Squid Game Season 2 Viewership Ties Wednesday Season 1 For Rare Netflix Streaming Milestone

Squid Game season 2 has helped the series reach an impressive Netflix milestone only Wednesday has achieved. The Emmy-winning series follows Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) as he, along with other cash-strapped people, play a series of games for money with their lives on the line. In season 2, Gi-hun aimed to topple those in charge and end the games. While it didn’t rate as well as its predecessor, Squid Game season 2 was still a cultural phenomenon with high ratings and viewership from the audience.

As reported by Variety, during its first full week of availability, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, Squid Game season 2 has clocked in 4.6 billion minutes watched on Netflix. This is a drop from the 4.9 billion minutes watched the week before, which included the new season’s weekend debut, but the achievement is still impressive, something only achieved by season 1 and Wednesday since 2022. For clarity, Nielsen does combine the viewership of all seasons of a series into one title, but the site says that season 2 contributed to 80% of that total for the aforementioned week.

What This Means For Squid Game’s Future

Criticism Aside, The Series Still Has A Lot To Offer

As said before, Squid Game season 2 wasn’t as well received as the initial season, scoring an 83% RT score from critics and a lower average on IMDb when compared to season 1, however, its rating is still a success, and its viewership proves that audiences are still invested in the series. Some criticisms point at season 2’s seemingly slow pace and lack of character development. This is probably due to the fact that Squid Game season 2 and 3 are in fact two halves of one story arc, one that creator Hwang Dong-hyuk admitted ran longer than anticipated.

This new Netflix milestone reached by Squid Game reflects the unwavering interest in the series and gives good optics for its upcoming third and final season.

Season 2 does end on a nail-biting, brutal cliffhanger that may leave some viewers frustrated. However, the admiration for the new characters — especially Thanos/Player 230 (Choi Seung-hyun aka T.O.P) and Kim Jun-hee/Player 222 (Jo Yu-ri) — who seemed to have the most edits made about them on social media shortly after the new season’s debut, proved that Squid Game season 2 provided numerous well-realized characters for fans to root for. This new Netflix milestone reached by Squid Game reflects the unwavering interest in the series and gives good optics for its upcoming third and final season.

Our Take On Squid Game’s Milestone

It’s Well-Deserved And Ramps Up Hype For Season 3

I’m glad to see that Squid Game’s reached such a milestone, though it comes with little surprise. The series reaching the same heights as Wednesday was a long time coming, as season 1 itself was a stellar piece of work with six Emmy wins to prove it. While I will admit that Squid Game season 2 doesn’t amount to the quality of its predecessor, I am considering it one half of a whole, as the ending of season 2 feels like a midpoint of sorts, so I’m hoping for the finale to satisfy fans with a concrete conclusion.

Source: Variety