The Power of Representation: How Squid Game S2 shed light and sparked debate on South Korea’s LGBTQ+ struggles

Note. Image capture of Squid Game Season 2's "Cho Hyun-ju." From Netflix.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the second season of Squid Game.

In the last few days of 2024, viewers from all around the world tuned in to Netflix to watch the highly anticipated second season of the hit Korean thriller Squid Game. The show, created and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, made history in 2021 by becoming the most-watched Netflix original in the platform’s history. The show’s second instalment created worldwide buzz long before its release, as its creator went to the press to tease the new season and reveal details about new characters. The casting of Park Sung-hoon, in particular, created controversy among Korean and international fans of the series, as he was slated to play the role of Cho Hyun-ju - a transgender woman who joins the titular game in order to earn enough money to pay for gender-affirming care. Hwang Dong-hyuk compared her character to Ali Abdul, one of the main characters from the first season, played by Indian actor Anupam Tripathi. Both characters were created to portray the condition of marginalized minorities in South Korea, adding nuance to the show’s poignant commentary on class divide and societal pressure, first by showing the condition of working-class migrants, and then by placing an LGBTQ+ storyline at the forefront (Moon, 2024). 

Indeed, the introduction of a transgender character in such a popular show ignited discussion about the condition of the trans community in South Korea. Trans people constitute an often overlooked minority in the East Asian country, and progress on transgender rights and equality has been considerably slower than in other countries. 

"Trans people constitute an often overlooked minority in the East Asian country, and progress on transgender rights and equality has been considerably slower than in other countries."

South Korea’s human rights regulations categorise sexual orientation minorities as a protected class; meanwhile, minorities in terms of gender identity are not covered by the country’s anti-discrimination laws (Yi et al., 2019). As of 2023, a growing number of district courts have declared it unconstitutional to require gender reassignment surgery to legally change one’s gender on documents. Yet, the requirement has not been overturned at a national level, and it adds to the list of barriers faced by trans people in South Korea (Oh, 2024). Access to hormone replacement therapy is constrained by material costs and dismissive attitudes by medical personnel (Oh et al., 2022), and trans people face an intense social stigma that negatively affects their mental health and makes them less likely to come out and openly express their identity (Yi et al., 2019). This is presented accurately in Cho Hyun-ju’s storyline; when questioned about her motivation for taking part in the titular games, she states that the treatment required to carry out her gender transition has a significant cost. Additionally, she was forced to withdraw from her position in the South Korean army because of her gender identity.

The choice to cast a cisgender male actor for the role of a transgender woman left the show’s international fanbase divided. Fans took to social media to criticize Hwang’s choice, claiming it was a major missed opportunity and casting a transgender woman would have marked a significant step forward for queer representation in Korean media. The director quickly replied to the criticism by saying that, in spite of efforts to cast the role authentically, the show’s crew did not manage to find any openly transgender actress in South Korea (Moon, 2024). Western audiences listened to the clarification, which served as an important justification for a controversial choice. Worldwide fans of the show were also urged to consider the cultural context behind the production team’s choices; in the event that a transgender actress had been cast to play Cho Hyun-ju, she might have faced unwanted harassment and discrimination related to her identity, especially in her native South Korea. Hwang’s claim partly omits the reality for transgender entertainers in the country; as of 2025, three openly transgender women have tried to pursue a career in the country’s entertainment industry, with short-lived results. One of them, Harisu, reported facing backlash despite her initial success (Chang, 2008).

While LGBTQ+ characters and performers have been largely excluded from mainstream media all over the world, major production companies have recently turned the tide on this negative trend by prominently featuring queer stories and queer artists. South Korea only joined this trend recently, with a surge in the production and release of BL (“boys’ love”) dramas. However, this kind of work tends to cater to a niche audience and seldom resonates with the mainstream public; that is why, by introducing a transgender storyline in the second season of the most anticipated show of the year, its creators may have secured a significant ripple effect for the public perception of queer people in South Korea and in the world.

Multiple research studies have been carried out on LGBTQ+ representation in media and its impact on the public perception of non-straight, non-cisgender identities. Most of those studies are based on Western media and data from Western audiences; however, in the past few years, Asian researchers have also started investigating the correlation between media representation and overcoming anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice within their own national contexts. 

A United States-based study by Bond and Compton (2015) found that heterosexual and/or cisgender people who are exposed to portrayals of queer identities in fictional stories end up exhibiting a more supportive attitude to LGBTQ+ rights and greater empathy towards queer people. A similar research project was carried out by Thai researchers in 2021, focusing specifically on the attitudes of young people towards the LGBTQ+ community and media representation, and reached similar conclusions to Bond’s study (Sookpornsawan et al., 2021).

However, mere exposure to queer and transgender storylines may not be enough to foster the overcoming of prejudice in heterosexual and cisgender audiences. A study conducted by Galdi et. al. (2023) showed that, at first, pre-existing bias in cishet viewers may be confirmed when shown content that explicitly counters the stereotypes commonly associated with the LGBTQ+ community as they may be inclined to reinforce a perceived distinction between themselves and a group they are not part of.

Related research shows that this effect is overturned by long-term, repeated exposure to queer storylines. In general, engaging with fictional stories allows viewers to develop a bond with the characters; Bond (2021) attempted to show the link between parasocial bonds and prejudice reduction by surveying respondents’ reaction to episodes of Queer as Folk, an early 2000s sitcom explicitly focused on LGBTQ+ themes. Survey respondents who self-reported a non-heterosexual orientation were excluded from the sample, so that the study could focus on heterosexual reactions to queer stories. An important finding of this research study showed that respondents who reported the highest level of queerphobic prejudice before watching the show eventually made the greatest progress in overcoming their bias (Bond, 2021).

Luckily, Cho Hyun-ju is here to stay. The ending of the second season of Squid Game confirmed her presence in the upcoming sequel, which will be aired in June 2025. Her journey has resonated with queer and cishet viewers alike; initial worries that her storyline would be characterized by clichés were quickly dispelled, and the audience appreciated the focus on her role as a leader and the way her skills as a former Special Forces soldier allowed her to support fellow players during the games. Arguably, the choice to depict her as a character with a mix of stereotypically feminine and stereotypically masculine traits has led a broader audience to appreciate her role in the show’s storyline and identify with aspects of her personality.

"Arguably, the choice to depict her as a character with a mix of stereotypically feminine and stereotypically masculine traits has led a broader audience to appreciate her role in the show’s storyline and identify with aspects of her personality."

A particularly poignant portion of her character arc involves an older teammate overcoming her prejudice and taking back offensive statements about Hyun-ju’s identity, showing that change is possible, even for those with deeply ingrained biases. It is particularly notable that the shift in her teammate’s behaviour towards Hyun-ju did not happen because she was told to change said behaviour, but entirely due to empathy and a stronger bond between the two characters. This is an unlikely development in a context such as the Squid Game, whose very nature and structure encourage players to turn their back on each other and only rely on themselves. This moment not only adds emotional depth to the series but also serves as a microcosm of the broader societal transformation that representation in media can inspire.

As audiences worldwide await its next chapter, the series holds the potential to continue sparking meaningful conversations about trans rights and representation, in South Korea and beyond.

This article represents the views of contributors to STEAR's online digital publication, and not those of STEAR, which takes no institutional positions.

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Bibliography

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Bond, B. J., & Compton, B. L. (2015). Gay on-screen: The relationship between exposure to gay characters on television and heterosexual audiences’ endorsement of gay equality. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(4), 717–732. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2015.1093485

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Moon, K. (2024, December 17). Squid Game director says it was “near impossible” to cast a trans woman as Season 2 character. TVGuide. https://www.tvguide.com/news/squid-game-director-trans-season-2-character-casting/

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