After a major spoiler, Park Gyu-young of 'Squid Game 3' said that she did not pay a penalty to Netflix.
On the afternoon of the 2nd, an interview with Park Gyu-young, the leading actor of the Netflix series 'Squid Game' Season 3, was held at a café in the Sogyeok-dong area of Seoul.
'Squid Game 3' depicts Gi-hun, who loses his closest friend after re-entering the game with his own purpose, the Front Man who infiltrated the game while hiding his identity, and the chilling fate of the participants who survived in the brutal game. Season 1 was first released in September 2021, creating a global phenomenon and breaking the highest viewing records in history, captivating audiences worldwide. Season 2 was released in December 2024, culminating in a grand finale with the final series.
'Squid Game 3' recorded 60,100,000 views just three days after its release, maintaining the No. 1 spot not only in South Korea but also in the 93 countries that compile Netflix's TOP 10, including the United States, Japan, France, and Brazil. This marks the first Netflix production to take the top spot in all countries during its opening week, proving to be a historic box office hit. Furthermore, it entered ninth place among Netflix's non-English series, with all three seasons—1, 2, and 3—now listed in the top 10 of Netflix's most popular series (non-English). Additionally, Season 2 ranked third and Season 1 sixth in the global TOP 10 for the week, demonstrating significant interest among fans worldwide.
Park Gyu-young portrays No-eul, a North Korean defector. She struggles to find her daughter left behind in North Korea and appears as a Pink Guard, aiming a gun at the game participants. However, despite her impressive performance in Season 2, she caused controversy by leaking a major spoiler just before the release of Season 3.
In January of this year, Park Gyu-young posted behind-the-scenes photos on her personal social media, leading to speculation that a male actor wearing the same Pink Guard outfit as her revealed an important twist in Season 3. As the controversy escalated, she quickly deleted the photo, but it had already spread across various online communities. In response, director Hwang Dong-hyuk noted, 'I cannot say anything after admitting there was a mistake. A mistake is a mistake, and forgiveness is forgiveness,' adding, 'We must bury the past and move forward, so I consider it a mere happening.'
Park Gyu-young expressed her sincere apologies to the viewers who suffered the most due to the spoilers, stating, 'I truly want to say that I am really, sincerely sorry without any excuse. You must have had high expectations for Season 3, but I think you might have started with an idea of the plot already. I apologize with no excuses, and I want to take this opportunity to express my remorse.'
She admitted that while revealing her narrative through the spoilers on social media, 'I really blamed myself so much. I exposed a lot of No-eul's significant narrative. More than that, I felt greater guilt towards the director who constructed the storyline and the production team who made it very well,' reflecting on her actions.
In response to the question, 'Was there any mention of a penalty while signing the pre-shoot agreement?' she said, 'It's hard to talk about the specific contract details, but rather than talking about penalties, we discussed how to ensure this doesn't happen again.' She also added, 'There was a guideline in the contract to be cautious about on-set exposures, but there was no discussion about penalties,' showing a relieved smile.
Meanwhile, 'Squid Game 3' was released worldwide in over 190 countries through Netflix on the 27th of last month.
[Photo] Provided by Netflix
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