Nobody really wins Squid Game, but with his purple hair and outsized attitude, Thanos won more than a few hearts. And behind-the-scenes footage proves that the actor who plays him had an all-out blast.
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00:00Nobody really wins Squid Game, but his purple hair and outsized attitude have won more than
00:05a few hearts, and behind-the-scenes footage proves that the actor who plays him had an
00:08all-out blast.
00:09We get our first genuine Thanos blooper during the pentathlon.
00:20Before the game starts on the show, everyone needs to break up into groups of five.
00:24Thanos has his eyes set on Semi, joining his team, because she's attractive, but she'll
00:28only do it if he also takes a friend, the meek Min-Soo.
00:31Despite Min-Soo not being perceived as cool, Thanos still welcomes him to his group.
00:35Welcome to the Thanos world, Thanos.
00:38However, it apparently took some practice to get it just right.
00:41Behind-the-scenes, Thanos Watch's director Hwang Dong-Hyuk demonstrates how to do a specialized
00:45handshake before bringing Min-Soo into the team.
00:48When Choi goes to do it himself after doing the handshake, he stumbles over the words
00:52Thanos world while trying to talk and shake at the same time.
00:55What's up?
00:56Nice to meet you, my brother.
00:58Welcome to Thanos world.
01:01In the final shot that was used in Season 2, Episode 4, Six Legs, he says his Thanos
01:06world line first, and then ends with a handshake-slash-hug.
01:09If nothing else, that's a good reminder to try to switch things up if they're not working.
01:13Squid Game Season 2 comes with a new wrinkle.
01:16After each game, players can vote to split the accumulated cash and either go home or
01:20Try to survive and add to the pot.
01:22Sounds like an easy choice when you add the sudden-death factor to the equation, but every
01:26player in the game is broke to the point of desperation.
01:29And at the center of it all, because whenever he's on screen he commands attention, there's
01:32Thanos, who's lost everything in a crypto scam.
01:35Don't you know who this is?
01:37The rap god, Thanos.
01:39Don't even need to snap, kill half the universe with a rap.
01:41Thankfully for all the Thanos-heads out there, Netflix Korea has released a blooper and behind-the-scenes
01:45reel that gives us a peek inside the series.
01:48Immediately we see Choi Sung-hyun, the actor who plays Thanos, cast his vote to continue
01:52the game.
01:53It seems to be the very first round of voting following Red Light, Green Light, where he
01:56presses the button and celebrates.
01:57In the episode, right after Thanos' vote, he's interrupted by Song Gi-hun, who tries
02:02to convince everyone else to vote to end the games.
02:04However, that doesn't happen right away in the clip, so after Choi Sung-hyun gives his
02:08little woot, he does a funny little run to the side.
02:11Gi-hun enters the picture shortly after.
02:13There's also a clip afterward of Choi turning around to look at Gi-hun speaking, which is
02:16what wound up in the episode.
02:18Still, we wish there was at least one scene in Squid Game Season 2 where we could see
02:22that dorky little Thanos run, because it's pretty adorable.
02:26Thanos is animated, often with pharmaceutical assistance.
02:29Because of this, some viewers write him off as Season 2's worst new character.
02:32They think he's too ridiculous to be a genuine threat to the other players, but it's hard
02:36not to respect Choi's commitment to the role, wired or not.
02:39He manages to make Thanos seem like a real person.
02:42I was gonna jump off the Han River Bridge.
02:44Actually, I was there when this man wearing a suit gave me a business card."
02:50Unlike the more grounded characters, Thanos is super physically expressive, using lots
02:54of hand gestures and sudden movements.
02:57And at one point in behind-the-scenes footage, we see him brushing up his moves, and if you
03:00listen closely, you can hear him mumbling his lines.
03:03It's funny to see Thanos so quiet and concentrated when he's usually the loudest character in
03:07any scene he's part of.
03:09But we appreciate the commitment to the craft and the work Choi put in to ensuring that,
03:13any time Thanos was on screen, audiences were paying attention.
03:16Oh, to have all that energy.
03:17It's gotta be nice to do that, yo.
03:20Mina, aka Player196, may be the first character killed off in Season 2, but she definitely
03:25made an impact on viewers.
03:27Despite her limited screentime, online fans dub her Icon and Diva for blowing off Thanos'
03:32clumsy advances with ease.
03:34When other players want pictures with Thanos, seeing as he's a semi-famous rapper, Thanos
03:38really wants a shot with 196.
03:40Hey, you wanna get in on this, too?
03:43Come on.
03:47However, it looks like the two got along much better off-camera.
03:50Song Ji-woo, the actress who plays 196, uploaded plenty of behind-the-scenes photos to Instagram,
03:55including one shot of her with two fingers up while standing next to Choi, and a couple
03:59of their co-stars.
04:00It's fun to see the actors being lighthearted, considering the horrors they're about to reenact
04:04once the cameras start rolling.
04:05Hope I get the green light.
04:09I like you.
04:13One More Game, the fifth episode of Season 2, contains a montage of various teams competing
04:17in the pentathlon.
04:19The sequence is fun, but Thanos fans miss out on watching him tackle Jeggie.
04:23Luckily, there's plenty of unused footage that shows us the side of Thanos who's a captain
04:27and a cheerleader, even if it's just to save his own skin.
04:30He's definitely the loudest member of his team, counting out the rhythm of their steps
04:34so they don't end up tripping all over each other.
04:36And we also see him talking with his teammates, although this is BTS footage, so while it
04:40may be Thanos' talking strategy, it may also just be Choi asking how much longer till lunch.
04:45Still, this is one of those positive Thanos moments.
04:48He may be drugged out of his mind, but that doesn't stop him from bringing out the best
04:52in his team.
04:53In the story, the six-legged race has lots of moving parts.
05:03But in reality, the actors have plenty more to keep in mind, including sound, camera angles,
05:07safety, script, and a thousand other things.
05:10And then there's the actor playing the character who has to succeed in the game without, hopefully,
05:14taking all day to do it.
05:15After Flying Stone, Thanos' team takes a moment to celebrate before moving to the next game.
05:19Thanos then tells everyone to get ready to move and counts them down.
05:22But not everyone's coordinated, and this presents a problem when their legs are tied together,
05:26so much for Squid Game being a bunch of easy children's games.
05:30Mingle is easily the best, most terrifying game of Season 2.
05:33It's basically musical rooms.
05:35When the music stops and a number is called, players better grab a group and head for a
05:39room or, you know, die.
05:40This leads to some heart-wrenching compromises, unless you're Thanos, in which case you make
05:44people compete to join your room.
05:46As the creepily cheerful song plays, Thanos and Nam-Gyu bop along, seemingly oblivious
05:50to the life-or-death consequences they're facing.
05:53Then three is called, and they can only bring one person with them, Min-Soo or Si-Mi.
05:57Winner stays, the loser goes!
05:59Rock, paper, scissors!
06:00After a round of rock, paper, scissors, Min-Soo wins.
06:03The BTS footage shows us a couple variations of Thanos getting Min-Soo to a room.
06:07On the first take, Thanos begins running off, probably expecting Min-Soo to follow.
06:11For the second take, Thanos and Nam-Gyu grab Min-Soo, dragging him along with them.
06:16BTS fight footage is the best.
06:18Hopefully the final cut looks completely convincing to the point of being painful, but it's a
06:22whole lot of work to check out the different angles and takes that go into making an on-screen
06:26brawl really work.
06:27In the second half of season two, Thanos spends a lot of time in the men's bathroom, kind
06:37of making it his turf.
06:38At one point, he gets into it with Myung-Gi, and not without good reason.
06:41If it weren't for Myung-Gi's YouTube crypto-scam, Thanos might still be out in the world, rich
06:46and rapping.
06:47The confrontation is inevitable from the start.
06:49Myung-Gi takes a swing at Thanos, and skillful sound and film editing makes it look real.
06:54It's fun to see the actors and production team put in the work, and then go back to
06:57the final footage.
06:58Myung-Gi's punch is hella convincing, and with Thanos whipped back around as though
07:02nothing's happened, he seems like a stone-cold tough guy.
07:05Thanos goes from deadly serious to joking around in a heartbeat, but it looks like off-camera
07:09Choi is far less intense, judging by a shot of him laughing and enjoying his work.
07:14And there's a special treat for fans who look carefully in the background.
07:17Right behind Choi is another guy with purple hair, his stunt double.
07:20We get a glimpse of Thanos 2.0 several times in the BTS footage, ready to step in if there's
07:25a shot that might put Choi in harm's way.
07:27"...I'll destroy anybody who dares stand in the way of my greatness."
07:30Thankfully, the stunt Thanos isn't visible in any of the final episodes.
07:35Imagine the fan theories if two Thanoses appeared in the same spot.
07:39Despite having a double on standby, if the behind-the-scenes footage is any indication,
07:43Choi actually did many of his own stunts.
07:45Early in the video, the frontman grabs Choi by the throat, and it's clearly Choi struggling
07:49on camera.
07:50Even though the bathroom brawl in Episode 6 is far more stunt-intensive, it looks like
07:54Choi is right there in the thick of it.
07:56In one take, Choi pushes fellow actor Yim Si-Wan against a wall, and in another, we
08:00see Choi flip Yim into the tile floor with a loud thud.
08:03We also see Choi punching Yim before being tackled.
08:06Once again, Choi's doing his own stunts.
08:08Love him or hate him, Thanos left his mark on the Squid Game franchise, onscreen and
08:12off.
08:13Even though a season 3 appearance seems impossible, Team Thanos can still hold out hope for some
08:17sort of miracle twist.