‘Squid Game’ Divides Fans By Casting Cis Actor As Trans Woman

The long-awaited Squid Game season 2 is being criticised ahead of its release for casting a cisgender actor in the role of a trans woman. 

In anticipation of the second season, Netflix has been amping up the marketing for the forthcoming season of the show, including releasing a video where cast members both new and old introduce their characters and backstories. 

Actor Park Sung-hoon introduced his character Hyun-ju, a former special forces soldier and transgender woman taking part in the game to pay for gender-affirming surgery. Sung-hoon added: “Even though she faces prejudice and tough situations, she shows incredible strength, decisiveness and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character.” 

“Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character” The way Park Sung Hoon talks about his Squid Game 2 character ah pic.twitter.com/L6ugP9IDBU

— Andrew (@PsychoKolour) December 4, 2024

News of the casting went viral online after it was shared by the Twitter/X account Pop Base, sparking controversy and discussion about the validity of casting a cisgender actor in the role of a trans woman. 

Disappointment with casting online

The greatest response overall was disappointment and anger that a cis man was cast as a trans woman, citing the way that it plays into harmful stereotypes about trans women. Countless comments across Twitter have asked why they couldn’t get a trans actress to play the role. 

“Would be great if they actually hired a trans actress so she could fund her surgery,” said one user, while another echoed the sentiment: “It is so unbelievably easy to just hire a trans woman to play the trans woman.” 

A number of trans users also found the casting either distasteful or insulting, with one user saying they should have at least cast a cis woman who identifies as the same gender as the character. “If you weren’t gonna hire a trans actress, [you] could’ve at least hired a cis actress,” said another. 

Many also cited the harmful stereotypes that come with cis male actors playing trans women. The words of Nick Adams and Jen Richards on this topic were cited heavily, and that cis men stepping into these roles perpetuates the deeply harmful stereotype that trans women are still really “men.” Given some of the anti-trans responses to this casting, it’s fair to say that these fears are substantive. 

Is Squid Game taking a step for representation?

On the contrary, many pointed out that South Korea is still a very conservative country and that casting a South Korean trans actress would have been not only difficult, but dangerous for the actress. 

In South Korea, same-sex marriage is still illegal, and while LGBTQI+ folk have some rights they lack protections and continue to face plenty of discrimination. Furthermore, the number of openly queer celebrities is extremely low. 

As such, some users defended the decision and cited the danger a trans actress would face coming out in South Korea. One of the most popular responses asked how they expected to find a trans actress willing to out herself for the role and withstand international transphobic replies from all across the world. 

Others called it “small steps” of progress, saying that having a cis actor representing trans people on TV was a good thing, while others said Park Sung-hoo was bold for being willing to play the role in spite of the potential hate it could bring. 

Squid Game season 2 releases on December 26; only then will we truly see what kind of trans representation Hyun-ju is.