Netflix’s Squid Game may make television history if it can snag a Primetime Emmy award or nomination. The South Korean-produced show is an international hit and is on track to become the streaming service’s most popular series of all time.
The show follows people who are on the brink of financial ruin being recruited by a shadowy organization for a contest that is more insidious than it seems on the surface. The competition promises a life-changing sum for one out of 456 contestants if they can beat a series of children’s games. However, what soon becomes abundantly clear for the participants during the first game is that if you lose a game, you also lose your life.
The show blends elements of horror, drama, and allegory to create a powerful metaphor for class inequality in our late-capitalist world and even has room for a sequel with even more aspects of the vividly realized world to explore.
Though the show was made in South Korea, and the characters speak Korean, it’s surprisingly still eligible for a Primetime Emmy on account of the fact that it was produced under the guidance of the American company Netflix with the unwavering intention from the beginning to distribute it in the U.S.
Since the show was produced internationally, it’s also eligible to enter the International Emmys, too. However, the two awards have mutual exclusivity clauses for entry, so it has to choose to enter either one or the other.
According to the report, a non-English show being considered for the domestic Emmys is such a rarity that Squid Game‘s prospective inclusion in the awards this year may spur them to create a new non-English category in future ceremonies.