How VFX Upped the Ante for Squid Game: The Challenge, Season 2
The Brief
Having swiftly acquired cult status, Squid Game has seen its phenomenal rise continue with a reality show spin-off. Ahead of the new season, we were approached by Studio Lambert to help them enhance and expand the experience for its second outing.
Tasked with working within the parameters of a game show environment, the brief was clear: retain the surreal and dystopian flavour of the original drama but translate it for the unscripted format, using VFX to create a world that feels ‘real’ for its real-life contestants and those following the action on screen.
In the show, contestants fight it out across three weeks, facing intense challenges and brutal betrayals, with a staggering $4.56 million prize up for grabs. But unlike the drama, this show hinges on the twists and turns that happen when you put real people - not actors - at the heart of the action. It was key that we kept this consideration front and central as we embarked on the project.
What We Did
We worked across five of the season’s nine episodes, creating environment extensions, compositing, cleanup and lighting integration. We ensured builds and locations honoured the hallmark Squid Game look, in keeping with the key requirement of the brief, while making them work for a reality show format.
As filming began and contestants had their own challenges to undertake, behind the scenes we were wrangling with a herculean volume of data; as such, LIDAR became an indispensable tool for keeping time on camera tracking and environment alignment when we didn’t always have access to metadata.
One of the most technically demanding sequences came in episode four - as contestants await their next challenge in a circus tent - which involved composting CG renders aligned with complex and dynamic on-set lighting. Working to extremely compressed timeframes - another feature of the reality show format - calls for a robust pipeline, so we delivered just that, working in close collaboration with Studio Lambert’s VFX producer to ensure swift approvals and to meet delivery windows that were often as small as just a few days.
Our teams worked from low-res proxy files from the edit, completing around 90 percent of each shot before receiving the full-resolution plates, demonstrating the efficiencies we mastered to keep on track with the fast pace of the show.
Maintaining visual continuity across hundreds of shots was equally critical, with the Lux Aeterna team implementing rigorous QC and shot-matching processes to ensure consistency of look and light across multiple compositors. Utilising DI mattes and digital matte paintings, meanwhile, gave online and grade teams flexibility to fine-tune colour and balance without compromising the visual integrity of the VFX.
The Results
Our work on Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 highlights the exciting opportunities for VFX in the unscripted space. While not without its challenges, bringing VFX into reality TV and the like allows commissioning studios to lean on innovative technologies and bring something fresh to ubiquitous formats. And for VFX teams it allows the opportunity to push technical boundaries in a hugely dynamic and exciting environment, as well as enabling viewers to enjoy an enhanced and expanded experience of their favourite franchises.
We successfully delivered VFX that seamlessly integrates into the Squid Game universe, respecting the iconic vision behind the original drama. Our aim wasn’t - in the words of our Executive Producer Emma Kolasinska, to add “spectacle for its own sake” but to “create a visual language that supports the story and the emotion, even when that story is unfolding in real time”. We’re delighted to have achieved that aim.
The Client
Studio Lambert
Year Delivered
2025
Learn more about our work on Squid Game: The Challenge here.