Where Was Netflix's Squid Game: The Challenge Filmed?
Even though "Squid Game," the enormously successful Netflix original series that stunned audiences in 2021, is set in South Korea, that doesn't mean the ensuing reality competition is as well. In fact, Netflix's new series "Squid Game: The Challenge" was actually filmed in the United Kingdom.
One of the main filming locations for the reality competition, which will see 456 contestants fight to win $4.56 million (without, presumably, the many casualties viewers remember from the fictional series), was Wharf Studios, which is located in London. Within these studios, Netflix and the show's production team faithfully recreated many of the sets from the original show, including the creepy pastel-pink staircases and the room full of bunk beds where all of the contestants sleep. The experience was also reportedly entirely immersive, and once contestants entered to play the game, they didn't exit until they were eliminated.
Pretty much all of "Squid Game: The Challenge" was filmed in Wharf Studios except for the first game — the sinister version of Red Light, Green Light overseen by a creepy robot doll. This was shot at Cardington Studios, which is also located in the U.K. — in Bedford, specifically — but is much larger than Wharf Studios and could accommodate the nearly 500 players involved.
The sets of Squid Game: The Challenge are super faithful to the original series
In a behind-the-scenes video released during Netflix's 2023 Geeked Week, series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk was joined on the set of "Squid Game: The Challenge" by original series star Anupam Tripathi, who played the doomed contestant Ali Abdul in the 2021 show. (Tripathi is even clad in his costume from the show, sporting the familiar green tracksuit that the reality contestants will also wear during "Squid Game: The Challenge.")
"They actually wanted to build the set exactly like the original set from the original show," Hwang tells Tripathi. "They asked us a lot of questions about how we build, and also blueprint, every detail about the set." The two start off in the massive bunk-bed room — "Can you imagine they lived here for, like, 15 days?" Hwang asks Tripathi — before heading into a room with a swing set and the infamous shapes on the wall (in the series, contestants had to carve stars, umbrellas, and other shapes into dalgona candy without making a single mistake). They also visit a seemingly new room that Hwang refers to as an "aircraft carrier" that may be home to a new game, as well as the set for the marble game where Tripathi's character Ali dies in the show.
"This set kind of makes me, like, I have to do a better job creating the set in Season 2," Hwang says to Tripathi at one point, laughing. "I have to top this set!" Clearly, he's got his work cut out for him. "Squid Game: The Challenge" premieres on Netflix on Friday, November 22.