Netflix, Do Not Make An American ‘Squid Game’ Remake

Well, I wasn’t sure that anything would top the Harry Potter TV series news in the “annoying but probably inevitable” category of entertainment news this week, but we may have a winner.

According to insider Jeff Sneider, referencing two of his sources, Netflix not only may be working on an American version of Squid Game, but they may be trying to recruit Mindhunters’ David Fincher to do it.

The immediately reaction to this from most would be “the original Korean version of Squid Game is already Netflix’s most popular show in history by a mile, why would you remake it?”

And then of course the answer is, “the original Korean version of Squid Game is Netflix’s most popular show in history by a mile, so that’s why you’d remake it.”

Presumably, the idea here is that you would get the international audience who loved the original Squid Game to tune in for the American version just to see what it was going to be like, plus an additional audience draw for those who didn’t want to watch the series because it was…Korean with dubs or subtitles. Yes, I’m sure that is a fairly large group, unfortunately.

As for David Fincher, the rumor goes that Netflix would want him to do it, but if history has taught us anything about David Fincher’s relationship with Netflix, it’s that Fincher just sort of says what he wants to do, and Netflix lets him do it. An American remake of Squid Game does not particularly sound like something he’d be interested in, if I had to guess. He helped create and directed early episodes of House of Cards before he peaced on that series (though that was an adaptation of a foreign show). He did Mindhunters for two seasons and supposedly didn’t really feel like doing more, so he didn’t. He did Mank, his Oscar-worthy passion project, and now he’s doing The Killer, an upcoming noir thriller, also with Netflix.

Whether Fincher is attached or not, the real question is whether Netflix will make this at all, and of course I’m going to be in the camp to say that they shouldn’t. I think it’s one thing when you’re remaking perhaps a seldom-seen foreign show for American audiences, as that’s something that happens all the time. But when the series has been not just a blockbuster on your service, but the most popular show ever, I feel like it’s simultaneously insulting and pointless to remake it and go “ah, but what if it was American?”

I do wonder if some of this is related to trepidation about season 2 of Squid Game, which of course may not be nearly as good, given that a second season was never originally planned, Also it’s taking an extremely long time to get here, and may still be at least another year away. Netflix already tried to do a Squid Game reality series that went somewhat disastrously, so I guess this is their next big idea.

This reminds me of when there were rumors floating around that someone was going to remake the Oscar-winning Parasite with Americans, and thankfully that never came to pass. Let this idea meet the same fate.

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