That shocking finale coda of Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game series left many curious about what it meant for the American spin-off Netflix has in the works. When the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) pauses next to an alley in downtown Los Angeles, you witness, along with him, the Squid Game recruitment ritual being administered by a new face: Cate Blanchett, wearing a suit and offering up the Ddakji slaps.
It’s hard to believe the Academy Award-winning actress was only recruited for a one-off cameo right after she claimed to be retired. In an interview with Variety, Blanchett discussed how the guest role came to be and what it might mean for her future in the franchise. “Because it’s such a cult series and they were shooting in L.A. of all places, everyone was on a need-to-know basis,” she said of the “out of the blue offer” that stipulated she bring her own suit.
“I got a couple of storyboards. I had to [learn to] play the game very quickly. I had to practice and practice. I knew there were four or five setups that they were going to do, and I knew what they needed from every shot, and then I was given the sides. But it was one of the more mysterious jobs.”
Blanchett explained that while her role was a feature on the series finale, she’d consider returning. “I am wildly open to anything,” she shared with the trade, “and in a world that is so beautifully, magically created like that, for sure. They’re amazing world-builders, and that series has been eaten alive. I don’t think there’s a corner of the globe that it hasn’t touched in some way.”
What’s so playfully suspicious about her answers is that Netflix has enlisted David Fincher for his take on the American Squid Game spin-off. And he happens to be a filmmaker Blanchett worked with on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, so what gives? Nothing, apparently, just coincidence. The actress affirmed to Variety, “I mean, I’d love to work with David again. It’s been ages. But no, I don’t know anything more than you do. I’m not being coy. I really don’t.”
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