Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is returning to cinema with K.O. Club, a dystopian thriller he once teased would be «more violent» than his Netflix phenomenon, South Korean media report. Lee Byung-hun and Park Hae-soo will reunite with him for a near-future battle between wealthy elders who can buy youth and a generation locked out of opportunity.
Hwang will write and direct the film, his first feature since the 2017 historical drama The Fortress. Cameras are expected to roll in the first half of 2027, according to an announcement from production company Firstman Studio.
The title offers little disguise: K.O. stands for Killing Oldmen Club. No character details have been released, but the premise places generational resentment inside a world where even ageing has become something the rich can pay to escape.
Squid Game cast enters new contest
Lee Byung-hun, the Front Man in Squid Game, will headline the cast. This marks his third collaboration with Hwang, following the Netflix series and The Fortress.
Returning too is Park Hae-soo, who played the scheming Cho Sang-woo in season one of Squid Game. Joining them will be Oh Jung-se, Parasite star Cho Yeo-jeong and Kim So-jin.
so far we lbh got three new projects coming up. im so excited for every single one of them 🥹
— karlis ღ (@Johnnyftpan) August 27, 2026
-The Koreans
-Nambeol
-Killing Oldmen Club (K.O. Club) pic.twitter.com/I3SmIiHiwt
Their roles remain unclear, which maintains the central mystery of who bought the youth and who is trying to overthrow the old order.
Hwang will produce the film with Kim Ji-yeon, his collaborator on Squid Game and co-founder of Firstman Studio. No streaming platform, release date or distributor has been announced. No mention of «Netflix» as a partner.
Read more: «Squid Game» actor O Yeong-su cleared of harassment charges
Squid Game’s three seasons now hold the top three positions on Netflix’s all-time non-English television charts. The first season had 265.2 million views under the service’s 91-day measurement system.
After Squid Game, Hwang puts youth up for sale
If Squid Game took children’s games and turned them into a bloody competition of debt and survival, K.O. Club appears to be bringing the same anxieties into a different arena.
A small, ageing elite, clinging to money, power and artificially extended youth, will seize the future. Young people are fighting for chances that have disappeared.
Hwang first floated the idea in 2022 as a 25-page treatment, partly inspired by the writing of Italian novelist and philosopher Umberto Eco. «It’s another controversial film,» he said, adding that it would be «more violent than Squid Game.»
Four years later the working title has stuck, and the project features a formidable cast. Timing also presents the film with a question it can’t ignore: how does a director follow up one of the biggest television hits ever made?
