Behind-The-Scenes Moments That Make Us Love Squid Game Even More

"Lovable" probably isn't the first word one thinks of when "Squid Game" pops into one's brain. But there's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage that shows how much fun the set could be — while also being a lot of hard work. While at least one of Season 2's games managed to make a lot of the cast sick, there was still plenty of room for bonhomie, good vibes and small personal acting victories among the show's ensemble. After all, they are playing grown-up versions of children's games for a living. Though they must pretend said games are deadly, there's no reason not to have fun between shots.

Loaded with plenty of charm, these behind-the-scenes moments make the viewer adore the actors and producers who put their time into making the obviously arduous to film yet chillingly delightful thriller. From actors whose humble opinion regarding their skills are proven wrong to unexpected shooting challenges turned right, here is a series of filming-related anecdotes and behind-the scenes footage from "Squid Game."

Lee Byung-hun has been applying his quiet intensity to the sometimes surprisingly nice Front Man's moves for two seasons now, but several of the games that pop up during Season 2 of "Squid Game" had him worried that he might not be up to the task. 

During his pre-taped interview with the streamer, Byung-hun admitted he's right-handed. The Front Man is left-handed, which required the actor to throw various objects with his non-dominant hand, including in the spinning top game. Byung-hun was concerned that he'd end up messing up over and over again trying to get that top to fall over at an opportune time, adding to Season 2's blooper reel and making things harder for himself. 

His humbleness in the footage is very endearing — especially because he seems to have nailed every single take without too much difficulty. As a matter of fact, it was pointed out that the Front Man was supposed to fail during this task in a Netflix K-Content appearance. Left or right-handed, Byung-hun kept executing the throw flawlessly. "He threw it backwards and it would still spin perfectly," said Leo Seo-hwan (who played Jung-bae). It just goes to show that even the grandest of stars can be concerned about trying out something new but triumph in the end.

The Jegi challenge — a game rather reminiscent of hackey-sack that involves the player keeping a pom-pom in the air with just their feet for a round of five repetitions  — is a tense portion of the five-minute-long, six-person race that's part of the pentathlon challenge in Season 2, Episode 4, "Six Legs." But behind the scenes it looks like every single person on the set had a chance to have fun by kicking the tassels around. Per the video shared by Netflix, actors, extras and even crew members can be seen punting the object about. It's apparent that they're all enjoying themselves — unlike their fictional counterparts.

It turns out that this specific challenge presented a problem for director, writer and series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. He admitted to struggling to find the correct amount of time for the challenge. Originally, the limit had been set to 10 minutes, but because the actors completed the challenge so quickly, he settled on the five-minute time limit since that was the amount of time participants most frequently needed to complete the task. All worth it to see those smiles.

While "Squid Game" itself is no place to find friendship, the show's set has proven to be a place where its actors managed to find camaraderie with their fellow thespians. There's a lot of downtime between scenes while shooting a TV show, and chatting with a fellow actor is often just one way to pass the achingly slow number of minutes that must go by before an actor has to deal with their next call. There's plenty of on-set footage featuring the actors chatting, laughing and smiling at one another in an endearing way.

It turns out that at least two principal actors formed a close bond while working together. Lee Yoo-mi and Jung Ho-yeon have professed to a friendship via Netfix's K-Content. "We're the same age and we share similar interests, so we got along really well," said Lee. "When we were filming, we kept sharing Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok's feelings. There was no way we wouldn't grow close." Jung confessed to feeling inadequate as an actress and looked to Lee for inspiration. The pair also confessed that they were both genuinely crying in the scene where Ji-yeong sacrifices herself in the marble game so Sae-byeok can keep going, because of the attachment they shared, even though they weren't supposed to. Now that's sweet.

No bones about it: making both seasons of "Squid Game" seems to have been hard work. During Season 2 alone, there was a scene that made many actors on the set sick, with the gravel and dust used in the six-legged race scene causing breathing difficulties for many of them. Most of the performers working on Season 1 confessed that the tug of war was the hardest to film. And yet the actors all said that the atmosphere on the show's set was great, and that being there was a big thrill in and of itself. 

There's plenty of Netflix-released footage showing them smiling and interacting with one another between takes. "Everyone wanted to be on set, even if they didn't have scenes to film," Heo Sung-tae told Netflix K-Content about Season 1. "I went, too." Other actors admitted that they exchanged their thoughts on the plot and the games. "We talked about so many things," admitted Anupam Tripathi in an endearing moment. "It felt like we were a family."

In one standout Season 2 scene, Kang Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul) plays a rapid-fire game of gong-gi, his hands moving with lightning-fast precision. It looks incredibly impressive, but there's a big secret related to the sequence — and his good-natured reaction to the entire situation made the whole behind-the-scenes moment extra charming. 

Dae-ho says he mastered the game because his sister taught him how to play. Ha-Neul, however, had a rockier road ahead of him on set. "I practiced hard, learning some new tricks. I was starting to get the hang of it, but the director invited an expert." Ha-Neul recalled to Netflix. Indeed, though Ha-Neul had a can-do attitude about his gameplaying skills, "Squid Game 2" producers still brought in a professional to play gong-gi in the episode. But Ha-Neul evinced a happy attitude about his replacement, praising his skill and speed. The just-stick-to-it spirit evinced by the show's actors definitely makes us want to see more of them, even if they had to bring in a professional player to make it look smooth as silk.

Jo Yu-ri's Kim Jun-hee provides a big reaction to nailing a toss in the ddakji game during "Six Legs," due to the fact that she had been having a hard time nailing the shot while filming the scene. In practice sessions she'd been able to do it, but on the actual day of shooting she couldn't manage it. In the take selected by the show's editors, her over-the-top expression in relation to her character's off-camera victory is brief but quite amusing — and it's made even better by her co-stars teasing her.

Watching the clip on a Netflix K-Content episode, her co-stars have a laugh about the moment. "There's a split second where Yu-ri's face is like..." Leo Seo-hwan remarks. The camera then cuts to her slow-motion reaction to the whole affair. Listening to her co-stars fondly tease her over her inability to land the moment is awfully endearing — but even more so is Yu-ri's obvious shock. It makes up an even bigger part of the constellation of endearing behind-the-scenes moments that makes "Squid Game" such a unique — and, yes, even lovable — series.