Squid Game Replacement: Netflix Confirms New Show

Production has officially begun on Netflix’s Squid Game replacement. The six-time Emmy Award-winning Squid Game has been a massive hit for the streamer since it premiered in 2021.

Netflix’s announced its next Korean series, titled The Dealer. The show is officially in production, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is producing the new drama series for the streaming platform.

The lead cast of The Dealer has also been revealed, and it includes Jung So-min, Ryoo Seung-bum, Lee Soo-hyuk, and Ryu Kyung-soo. The crime drama will follow Geonhwa, “a brilliant casino dealer whose wedding plans suddenly fall apart, forcing her to unleash her long-hidden powers and plunge into the dangerous world of gambling, in order to successfully make it down the aisle,” according to a summary from Netflix.

Jung So-Min, known for roles in Love Reset, Alchemy of Souls, Love Next Door, and Would You Marry Me? stars as Geonhwa in The Dealer. Netflix describes the character as “an exceptionally adept and seasoned dealer who has lived a life far removed from the vices of the casino floor.”

Lee So-hyuk will portray Jo Jun, a casino player with “razor-sharp skills and an impenetrable poker face.” Ryu Kyung-soo is set to star as Choi Wooseung, “a detective and Geonhwa’s fiancé” who “shows a very different side at work” as a detective who “never lets a suspect slip away.”

The Dealer will also feature first-time director Choi Young-hwan, who worked as a cinematographer on Smugglers, Veteran, Tazza: The High Rollers, and The Thieves. Firstman Studios, which produced Squid Game, is producing The Dealer along with Squid Game director and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.

Could There Be a Squid Game Spinoff in the Future?

Image via Netflix

Netflix’s Squid Game aired for three seasons, with its final season premiering in 2025. The show’s third season debuted with strong numbers, pulling in 46.3 million views and 283.8 million hours viewed in its second week.

Season 3 marked the end of Squid Game, but fans speculated that there could be a spinoff at some point. In July 2025, Hwang Dong-hyuk said he already had an idea in mind if a Squid Game spinoff ever happened.

“I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff,” he said at that time. “Not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between Season 1 and Season 2 when Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) looks around for the recruiters,” he said, adding, “There is that three-year period, and maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that. So that is some vague ideation that I have that could possibly be developed in the future.”

A premiere date for Netflix’s The Dealer has not yet been announced.