Front Man, Lee Byung-hun joins Squid Game season 2: Villain reveals tragic backstory

Actor Lee Byung-hun says he focused on portraying a character whose difficult life has led him to believe "that there is an absolute absence of humanity” in the world.

Warning: This article includes some major spoilers from the second season of Netflix’s “Squid Game.”

While the identity of the Front Man, the biggest villain in “Squid Game,” was finally revealed at the end of the hit Netflix show’s first season, his shocking backstory gets unmasked in the upcoming second season.

Lee Byung-hun — who returns as the Front Man who runs the twisted games in the new season premiering Dec. 26 — told NBC News that his character is more complex than what fans were initially shown. The Front Man, whose name is In-ho, harbors a painful past that includes the death of his wife and mounting medical debt. With this plotline, Lee said, he hopes to show how his character became an “extreme pessimist.”

“As an actor, what was really most important to me was being able to tell the story of the Front Man’s past,” Lee said in Korean through a translator. “He is someone who believes that there is no hope left in the world, who believes that there is an absolute absence of humanity.”

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in “Squid Game.”No Ju-han / NetflixThe upcoming season revolves around Gi-hun, or Player 456, as he chooses to re-enter the game three years after having already been crowned the winner. This time, Gi-hun is bent on putting an end to the murderous contest and protecting his fellow players. But, unbeknownst to the contestants, the Front Man, a former winner of the game who went on to run the horrific experiment, has disguised himself as Player 001. And he’s covertly ensuring that the game plays on.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/lee-byung-hun-squid-game-villain-backstory-rcna184721

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