David Fincher, the director previously attached to such projects as a Chinatown prequel, World War Z 2, and a Strangers On The Train remake, is reportedly eyeing Squid Game. Per Deadline, which could not confirm the validity of any of this, so please, dear reader, take this post with a grain of salt, David Fincher may be looking to add Squid Game to his Wikipedia page of unrealized projects. Deadline notes that “details are vague,” but that “rumors have been growing” about Fincher spending 2025 making an English-language spin-off of Squid Game.
Sure, maybe Fincher will smash a bottle of champagne on the hull of the good ship Squid Game as he did House Of Cards. More likely, though, Netflix is just throwing a name out there, hoping to drum up interest for the show. After all, if it is too expensive and time-consuming to be hunting minds all the livelong day, how can we expect a modestly budgeted Squid Game spin-off to be completed on schedule? However, if Netflix is interested in giving Fincher TV time again, we would greatly prefer a new season of Mindhunter to another stopgap between seasons of the actual Squid Game series.
At least in the press, Fincher is a director who quickly falls in and out of love with projects. One need only look at how many cursed projects he’s been attached to: The Devil In The White City, Cleopatra, and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. He’s got unmade TV projects, like a Chinatown prequel and a trio of failed HBO series, Videosyncrazy, Utopia, and Shakedown, which either disappeared or were shut down late into the process (Videosyncrazy had shot a few episodes). There are also projects like Steve Jobs and Bohemian Rhapsody, which he was attached to but were made by different filmmakers. Then there are the sequels. Fincher was offered the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode VII and planned on making World War Z 2—not to mention the sequels to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that never manifested.
Look, we love the Finch Man and don’t think any of this is weird. In Hollywood, deals and agreements fall through all the time. Fincher is a director who requires much control over his work, so it’s common for him or the studio to walk away. A David Fincher version of Squid Game is a perfect example of an unmade Fincher project because it would be so expensive and time-consuming for him, specifically, to make a futuristic, sci-fi action satire like this. But hey, Netflix doesn’t mind waiting for more Squid Game.