Some people would metaphorically give their teeth to launch a hit TV show, but for Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, it was literal. 

He clarified to the BBC that he was under so much stress making the original series, which became a global phenomenon, that he lost “eight or nine” teeth. He’d previously said six of his teeth fell out. 

In preparation for the anticipated follow-up to the show, which is due on Netflix on Dec. 25, Hwang said, “The stress I feel now is much greater,” adding of his chompers that he’ll “probably have to pull out a few more very soon.”

That said, the Emmy-winning show’s creator said much like his show’s contestants, he pursued a second season for the jackpot. 

“Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much,” he tells the outlet. “So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

That said, he explained he “didn’t fully finish the story” of the first season’s winner, Lee Jung-jae‘s Seong Gi-hun aka Player 456. For the forthcoming go-round, Gi-hun takes on the life-or-death game once again, with vengeance on his mind for the people behind it. 

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