'Squid Game' Director Almost Fired T.O.P Due to His Scandal's Backlash — But Here's Why He Kept the Idol

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"Squid Game 2" director explained why he insisted on casting former BIGBANG T.O.P. despite controversies surrounding the idol-actor.

On November 14, Netflix shared that a production conference will be held on Dec. 9th before the drop of the much-anticipated season 2 of the hit series, "Squid Game" on the 26th of next month.

According to the press, former BIGBANG T.O.P, however, will not attend, seemingly conscious of his casting controversy. In particular, some spectators refused to warmly welcome his return to the big screen after 9 years, pointing to his marijuana smoking scandal in 2016 as the main reason.

Also, other netters mocked him for trying to return to the entertainment scene through the big project, despite hinting at his retirement in 2020.

After the production team remained silent for a long time, Director Hwang Dong Hyuk finally decided to come clean about his decision to cast T.O.P. and revealed that he initially doubted his decision as well. He narrated:

"I didn't consider it would be controversial (...) I thought, 'If that much time had passed, wouldn't it be okay to start doing something like this?' and cast him. However, there are a lot of concerns from the people that I also thought maybe my decision was a bit wrong and short-sighted."

Hwang highlighted that there are some stars who were able to go back to work after their reflections and punishment, but seeing the backlash T.O.P, created, he almost fired him.

However, the director also explained why he ended up keeping the idol actor after a series of auditions and screenings and realized he was still the "most suitable choice."

"He had a strong will so I personally oversaw his audition. He worked really hard and sent me his practice videos. When he was unsure about some of his parts while script reading, he would verify it, demonstrating both effort and skills."

Hwang continued:

"Actually, I had my eye on Choi Seung Hyun (T.O.P) as an actor. I can't go into details, but it's a role that requires a lot of courage. I picked him because I thought he was the most suitable choice.

Although it was controversial, (at that point) I concluded that I had to show the results of why I had to do this project with this actor because we had gone through so much together that it was difficult to change my mind."

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