“Squid Game” is everywhere.
The South Korean drama debuted on Sept. 16 and has become a runaway hit.
“There’s a very good chance it will be our biggest show ever,” said Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive at Netflix, at a conference just under two weeks after the release of the series. “Bridgerton” was streamed by 82 million households in its first month and “Squid Game” could be on pace to surpass that number.
The San Antonio Spurs and other franchises have noticed.
“You like games? We have one tonight,” the Spurs’ Instagram feed posted before their preseason game with the Detroit Pistons.
The photo work on the feed is pretty special. The reference is based on the second game of the series, the Honeycomb Candy game, when each remaining player receives a tin containing a honeycomb imprinted with one of four shapes: a circle, a triangle, a star, or an umbrella, which they choose at random before the game begins. The player has a horrifying 10 minutes to carve out the shape with a needle, or else.
Lee Jung-Jae stars as Seong Gi-Hun, who is Player 456. The number is printed on his jacket and on his shirt in the series. The Spurs’ social team took it another level and changed Seong Gi-Hun’s number to 210 — San Antonio’s area code.
The popularity of the nine-episode drama is unquestioned. On social media, users won’t stop talking about “Squid Game.” On TikTok, “#SquidGame” has been viewed more than 23 billion times.