'Squid Game' season 2 smashed Netflix's record for the biggest debut

• Netflix says season two of "Squid Game" got 68 million views in the first four days after its debut.
• The South Korean drama surpassed a record held by "Wednesday" for most views in a premiere week.
• The dystopian thriller is Netflix's top non-English show, with over 265 million views.

Netflix says season two of its hit streaming series "Squid Game" amassed 68 million views in the first four days of its release, blowing past the viewership record for a show's premiere week on the streaming platform.

The record was previously held by the first season of "Wednesday," which had more than 50 million views after it launched in 2022.

The South Korean dystopian thriller also broke records when it debuted in 2021, and Netflix says it remains its most popular non-English show, with over 265 million views.

The series, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk and starring Lee Jung-jae, is broadly about people heavily in debt competing in deadly versions of children's games for a big cash prize.

Shortly after the first season debuted, Bloomberg reported that Netflix expected the series to create nearly $900 million in value for the company.

Alvin Foo, then a Netflix director of strategy and operators for APAC marketing, wrote a LinkedIn post in 2021 describing 10 reasons he thought the show became a global phenomenon. One was the broader popularity of the "survival-game" genre.

Foo also noted that it touched on themes such as economic inequality and said it was "instantly meme-able" for its visually striking set design and costumes.

In an interview with Variety in late December, Hwang said fans wouldn't need to wait too long for season three.

"After season two launches, I believe we will be announcing the launch date for Season 3 soon," he said. "I probably expect that to launch around summer or fall next year."