'Hellbound' creator opens up about show being compared to 'Squid Game'

The year 2021 has been great for the South Korean entertainment industry as it produced globally chart-topping series and movies. Earlier this year the show Squid Game took the world by storm and became a pop-culture phenomenon as it became the most-watched show on Netflix. Few months after the release of Squid Game, dark fantasy drama Hellbound, created by the director of Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho, was also released. 

The show also received widespread critical acclaim and was one of the most-watched shows on Netflix. The creator of the show, Yeon Sang-ho, recently spoke about how the show was constantly being compared to Squid Game. 

Hellbound creator talks about the show being compared to Squid Game

Hellbound follows the story as an otherworldly face called an angel suddenly starts to materialize to deliver prophesies called decrees that condemn certain individuals to Hell at a specific future time, either seconds or years away. In an interview with the New York Post, Yeon Sang-ho spoke about the show being compared to Squid Game and said, "I think Squid Game and Hellbound have their differences and the reason why people like them is somewhat different. Both of them were popular because they had something that people could relate to and resonate with."

He added, "I think everyone has a certain level of fear and darkness inside them, and I think that’s universal. So when I was making ‘Hellbound,’ I wanted to find out what kind of hope it can draw from the fear that’s in all of us. It’s actually not been quite long since Korean drama delved into these dark and apocalyptic themes. With Korean movies, it’s been quite long — but TV was mostly romance and romcoms. It was only 3-4 years ago that Korean dramas got into these darker genres. I think there have been some environmental shifts in the industry, and a lot of creators in the film field came over to the [TV] drama industry, and that’s why they brought with them the darker drama." 

Sang-ho further explained that a series did not need to have dark themes in order to be globally popular. He cited the examples of rom-com's like Crash Landing on You and Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and said, "Korean shows like these are very happy and are globally popular. So, I think Korea has a lot of different genres to offer." 

Image: Instagram/@netflixkr