Interview with Jo Yu-ri from ‘Squid Game’ about the Tough Experience of Playing Pregnant Player 222: “Jun-hee Wanted to Quit the Game from the Start”

Squid Game Season 2 introduces Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), the winner of the previous season, who willingly joins the deadly games as Player 456. Upon awakening in the familiar dormitory, Gi-hun is alarmed by the similarities from the green tracksuits to the game of “Red Light, Green Light,” although all the other participants are new. Given that Gi-hun was the sole survivor of the first season, Season 2 had to introduce 455 new players.

And this time, one of them, Player 222, Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) is pregnant.

**Spoilers for Squid Game Season 2, now streaming on Netflix**

The story follows Kim Jun-hee, who we first encounter waiting alone in a doctor’s office, as the father of her child, Lee Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan), is preoccupied with being recruited to participate in Squid Game and is unreachable. Holding one of the distinctive invitation cards, Jun-hee departs the office before her appointment is called.

Upon joining the competition as Player 222, Jun-hee discovers that Myung-gi is also present as Player 333 and is a prime target. The motivation behind Jun-hee, Myung-gi, and several other young contenders partaking in the games stems from the fact that 333, a crypto influencer, had duped his followers into investing in a fraudulent scheme.

As soon as people start to die during the violent game of “Red Light, Green Light,” Jun-hee realizes that these games are far from her best bet of providing for her unborn child. Squid Game star Jo Yu-ri told Decider during a recent roundtable interview that her pregnant character’s emotional state was a huge challenge “because Jun-hee wanted to leave the game from the get go.”

“She actually didn’t know what the actual game was when she first joined the game,” Jo said, revealing that Jun-hee never would have played had she known the stakes. “I actually could relate to that.”

As the pressure of the game intensifies, Myung-gi discovers Jun-hee is there and attempts to team up with her, to protect her. Ultimately, she rejects his offer, but in the final episodes, Jun-hee does pull her baby daddy aside to implore him to stay safe as the players turn on each other. What Jo Yu-ri revealed to Decider and the other outlets at the roundtable is that she did this not realizing that Myung-gi had already taken a life.

“I think what Jun-hee was trying to do was telling Myung-gi not to lose his humanity,” Jo said in response to a question posed by Cinemablend’s Alexandra Ramos. “Jun-hee actually had no idea what actually happened inside the restroom.”

“Looking at Myung-gi and all of the blood on his face Jun-hee wouldn’t have imagined that Myung-gi actually already has one person got killed. She just wanted to stop more killings.”

Of course, this is Squid Game, which means many people are killed by the time Squid Game Season 2 wraps up. However we’ll have to wait for Squid Game Season 3 to find out if Jun-hun and her baby manage to make it out alive.