List of Squid Game characters

Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama streaming television series created for Netflix by Hwang Dong-hyuk. The series revolves around a contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial debt, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a prize. Squid Game was released worldwide on September 17, 2021, to critical acclaim and international attention.

The series features an ensemble cast including Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, HoYeon Jung, Wi Ha-joon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung.

Overview

Character	Portrayed by
Seong Gi-hun	Lee Jung-jae
Cho Sang-woo	Park Hae-soo
Kang Sae-byeok	HoYeon Jung
Hwang Jun-ho	Wi Ha-joon
Oh Il-nam	O Yeong-su
Jang Deok-su	Heo Sung-tae
Ali Abdul	Anupam Tripathi
Han Mi-nyeo	Kim Joo-ryoung
Byeong-gi	Yoo Sung-joo
Ji-yeong	Lee Yoo-mi
Gi-hun's mother	Kim Young-ok
Seong Ga-yeong	Cho Ah-in
Gi-hun's ex-wife	Kang Mal-geum
Sang-woo's mother	Park Hye-jin
Kang Cheol	Park Si-wan
The Salesman	Gong Yoo
The Front Man / Hwang In-ho	Lee Byung-hun

Main characters

Seong Gi-hun

Seong Gi-hun, also known as Player 456, is the main protagonist of Squid Game. He is portrayed by Lee Jung-jae.

Gi-hun is presented as a divorced father, who besides working as a chauffeur, continuously gambles for the purpose of earning money. Living with his diabetic mother, Gi-hun desperately tries to gain custody of his daughter, who now lives with her mother and stepdad. Trying to be a custodial father, Gi-hun tries taking care of his daughter, but fails due to his lack of money, which he often lends from the bank as well as from loan sharks. Due to his gambling, as well as other different factors, Gi-hun is millions of won in debt, and constantly evades paying back the money he owes to the bank and loan sharks. One day after winning 100.000 won playing a game with a salesman, Gi-hun gets invited to the Squid Game, an offer he accepts in hopes of winning a large amount of money, paying back his large debts, paying his mother's hospital bills, gaining back custody of his daughter and overall securing a good life for him and his family. Gi-hun ultimately wins the game and receives the prize money, but is left emotionally traumatised from what he went through during the game.

Lee Jung-jae will reprise his role as Gi-hun in the second season of Squid Game. As the season is only in the conceptualization stage, not much is known about Gi-hun's involvement, but series creator Hwang stated that "he will do something for the world."

Cho Sang-woo

Cho Sang-woo, also known as Player 212, is the deuteragonist of Squid Game. He was portrayed by Park Hae-soo.

Sang-woo is the childhood friend of Gi-hun, and studied at Seoul National University. He was wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients, and racking up massive debts from bad investments, which ultimately leads to Sang-woo participating in the game. Sang-woo forms an alliance with Gi-hun and several other players, and helped them survive Tug of war.

As the games progress, he takes on a more villainous role, becoming directly responsible for the deaths of several players (including Player 199 and Player 067) in order to progress further through the games. During the final game, Sang-woo voluntarily kills himself to ensure Gi-hun wins the prize money, requesting that he helps his mother before dying.

Kang Sae-byeok

Kang Sae-byeok, also known as Player 067, is the tritagonist of Squid Game. She was portrayed by model HoYeon Jung in her acting debut.

Sae-byeok is a former pickpocket and North Korean defector who entered the games to win enough money to bring her mother back to South Korea, and to get her younger brother Kang Cheol out of an orphanage. Initially entering the game as a lone wolf, she later forms alliances with Gi-hun and his team, along with fellow female player Ji-yeong.

She ultimately survives the first five games, but is killed by Sang-woo before the final game to prevent her and Gi-hun from ending the games early.

Ali Abdul

Ali Abdul, also known as Player 199, is a major character in Squid Game. He was portrayed by Anupam Tripathi.

Ali is a Pakistani immigrant that came to South Korea with his wife and child, and participated in the game to win the prize money for his family. He saves Gi-hun's life during "Red Light, Green Light", and later forms an alliance with him and the other members of Gi-hun's team. Ali survives the first three games, and is killed during Marbles after being betrayed by Sang-woo, who replaces his pouch of marbles with a pouch of pebbles.

Oh Il-nam

Oh Il-nam, also known as Player 001, is a major character in Squid Game. He was portrayed by O Yeong-su.

Il-nam is initially presented as an elderly man with a brain tumor, who prefers playing the game as opposed to waiting to die in the outside world. During the game, Il-nam formed a close alliance with Gi-hun, and survived the first four games before being seemingly killed off-screen during the Marbles game. However, a year after Gi-hun wins the game, is is revealed that Il-nam survived and that he was secretly the creator/host of the games, angering Gi-hun. Before dying, Il-nam explains his reasoning for creating the games to Gi-hun, and stated that he genuinely enjoyed playing the game with him.