The trailer for Squid Game: The Challenge is here — and it looks intense

It's not for the faint of heart

Squid Game: The Challenge
(Image credit: © 2023 Netflix, Inc.)

Squid Game was huge when it hit Netflix in 2021, but Squid Game: The Challenge — a reality reenactment of the show's premise — has the potential to be an even bigger blockbuster.

Now, the trailer for the reality show has reached us at last, and it looks as horrifying as you might expect based on the concept.

In case you're one of the few people who never watched Squid Game (i.e. the fictional drama series), it followed 456 financially challenged players as they fought for a massive cash prize. The catch? If they lost a round, they could pay with their life.

Now, the reality show follows a similar premise, but obviously nobody will be killed for losing a round — by the looks of the trailer, contestants will "fake die" instead, being shot with what looks like a paintball, or being dropped through the floor of an obstacle course (presumably onto a thick mattress below).

In order to win the $4.56 million cash prize, the winner will have to survive a whole bunch of challenges inspired by the original TV series, such as the "Red Light, Green Light" challenge and the cookie cutter challenge.

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The show's tagline is 'Make friends. Make enemies. Make millions' and the trailer shows contestants forming alliances with fellow contestants, as well as saying things like, "You can't trust anybody in here" and "I'm gonna be your best friend, but I will absolutely double cross you" (make it make sense...).

At one point, the contestants are also asked to eliminate two players, which explains why it would be hard to trust anyone. Also, everyone wants to win, and there can only be one winner. Out of 456. So.

Are you ready for Squid Game: The Challenge to drop on Netflix on 22nd November? Same.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.