Netflix’s hit survival thriller was nominated for thefor drama series Tuesday. The acclaimed South Korean drama is the first non-English language series to be nominated for an Emmy.
The brutal and buzzy show, follows a group od who are in dire financial trouble as they compete in a series of deadly children’s games for a cash prize. After its global premiere in September, word-of-mouth buzz helped propel the Korean drama into becoming Netflix most trending show according to the streamer’s own secret metrics.
Four members of "Squid Game's" main cast
were recognized in individual acting categories
for their performances. Lee Jung-jae, who
portrayed the kindhearted but debt-ridden
father Seong Gi-hun, was nominated for lead
actor in a drama series. Jung Ho-yeon was
nominated for supporting actress in a drama
series for her portrayal of devoted sister and
scrappy pickpocket Kang Sae-byeok. Park Hae-
soo and Oh Yeong-su were both among the
supporting actor in a drama series nominees.
Park portrayed Song's former classmate Cho
Sang-woo, while Oh played Oh Il-nam, an
elderly fellow contestant Song befriends during
the contest. Lee You-mi was nominated in the
guest actress in a drama series for her
performance as Ji-yeong.
The
"Squid Game"
" cast members are the first
native Korean actors to be nominated in their
respective categories. Series creator Hwang is
also the first native Korean creator to earn
Emmy nominations for drama writing and
directing. Overall,
"Squid Game" scored 14
Emmy nominations, including for its production
design, cinematography, special effects, editing,
main title theme and stunts.
"Pachinko," the acclaimed Apple TV+ drama
series based on the novel by Min Jin Lee, was
also among the high profile non-English
language shows vying for contention in the
Emmy series and acting categories. The show,
which is produced in Korean, Japanese and
English, landed a nomination for main title
design.