Squid Game Season 2 Reveals New Details About The Front Man’s Mysterious Past

This article contains spoilers for “Squid Game” season 2.

The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) is an instrumental character in “Squid Game” season 1, and doubly more so in season 2. After the death of Oh Il-Nam (O Yeong-su) during the ending of “Squid Game” season 1, he seems to wield the primary power over the titular games, which makes him series protagonist Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) sworn nemesis. After the first season reveals that he’s actually Hwang Jun-ho’s (Wi Ha-joon) long-lost brother Hwang In-ho, he also has a personal history with his kid brother. However, apart from his identity and his status as a former Squid Game winner who’s now working as a high-ranking organizer, there’s not a lot season 1 reveals about the guy. 

As such, the morsels of information about his personal life he offers in season 2 are extremely interesting. Revelations about the Front Man’s history start trickling in after the first episode, “Bread and Lottery,” is done with the heavy lifting about Gi-hun’s and Jun-ho’s life circumstances and respective aspirations. Episode 2, “Halloween Party,” teaches us that the character wasn’t always alone in this world — instead, he once had a wife who’s now dead. What’s more, it turns out that Jun-ho and In-ho are actually step brothers. 

There’s also a very good reason why Jun-ho is so devoted to his brother despite his apparent supervillainy: The Front Man has actually donated a kidney to him, which implies a life debt that no doubt reinforces the (step)brotherly love the detective-turned-traffic cop feels toward In-ho. It would also appear that the Front Man has been quite corrupt even before his Squid Game career, and accepted bribes — though it seems he did it to help his dying wife.  

In “Squid Game” season 2 episode 3, “001,” we find out that the Front Man is competing as the game’s new Player 001. He soon allies himself with Gi-hun — who doesn’t know what the Front Man looks like, and specifically re-enters the game to prove a point to the Squid Game mastermind. This makes the Front Man a highly untrustworthy presence within the games, of course. Nevertheless, his rapport with Gi-hun — while very likely fake — at least seems genuine, and he offers some information about his background that lines up with the things we’ve learned about him before he joins the game as a player. Notably, he mentions taking bribes in the past. Then again, he also claims that his wife is still alive and needs an organ transplant, which might be what actually happened to his spouse at some point before her death, but is nevertheless a lie. 

The Front Man’s nefarious antics were always among the things “Squid Game” fans need to remember before watching season 2. Now that the sophomore season is actually out, it’s increasingly clear that the character hides even deeper secrets than anyone could have expected, and the show seems content to sit on its answers before “Squid Game” ends with season 3.

“Squid Game” season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.