‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ races to its conclusion with a spot-on ‘Aliens’ riff

The following article includes significant spoilers for All Those Who Wander.Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has never been ashamed to tip its hat to the stories it’s riffing upon, some more obviously than others. This week’s episode, All Those Who …

‘Strange New Worlds’ mixes the maudlin and irreverent

The following article discusses spoilers for The Elysian Kingdom.There’s a genre of writing best embodied by the serial escalation of premises found on forum threads in certain corners of the internet. It’s the sort of energy that imbues this week’s St…

Netflix is creating a real-world competition based on ‘Squid Game’

Netflix isn’t just milking Squid Game‘s success with a second season. Varietynotes the streamer is creating a reality competition show, Squid Game: The Challenge, based on the Korean series. The 10-episode production will pit 456 people against each other in games both “inspired” by the show as well as new events. No one is dying here, thankfully, but there’s still a good reason for entrants to persevere to the end — the winner receives a whopping $4.56 million prize.

The company is casting for English-speaking participants worldwide ahead of filming in the UK. While Netflix didn’t say when Squid Game: The Challenge would premiere, the US casting page notes that candidates may have to commit to as many as four weeks in early 2023. The Circle production house Studio Lambert and ITV’s The Garden are heading up the project.

A reality TV spinoff isn’t exactly shocking. Squid Game remains Netflix’s most popular show of all time, and earned Golden Globe and SAG awards. The company is also eager to turn its fortunes around — it posted its first subscriber loss in a decade last quarter in the wake of fiercer rivalries, limited growth potential and account sharing. The competition could help Netflix reel in subscribers beyond those eager to watch season two.