Squid Game: Front Man's Empathy Toward The Players Explained By Actor

Perhaps the strangest character in "Squid Game" is the Front Man, aka Player 001, aka Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun). Whatever objections we have to his day job are overshadowed by our perplexity and desire to understand what, exactly, makes this man tick. We know from the reactions of his brother, Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), that the Front Man didn't used to be this way. So, what happened?

These are the questions that Lee himself struggled with throughout "Squid Game" season 2, in which his character pretends to be a player in the games and forms actual relationships with the other contestants. The Front Man even appears empathetic towards the people he's essentially torturing, a fascinating contradiction that's never fully explained.

"[The Front Man] takes on the disguise as a player, but he is such a pessimistic character and the epitome of darkness. How can he disguise himself as a normal person so that everyone would buy in and think of him as this new guy?" Lee remarked in an interview with SFX Magazine. "How can he act out the joy, nervousness, and fear that any other player would have whilst he's not feeling it?" He continued:

"When I had to play this fake character as a player, at first, I thought I would express little because he is still Front Man inside, and after going through all those traumatic events, he won't be able to express his feelings like a normal person would. But then director Hwang [Dong-hyuk] suggested trying to be more expressive, because he was also not certain what balance to strike, but he said to try this and compare. I tried to be more expressive, as if I am really feeling the joy, tension, and nervousness with my team. When we tried that and saw it on the monitor, he actually looked stranger and more eerie."

"Before everything happened and he was just Hwang In-ho, he was probably like any one of us: He would have some good and some evil inside of him," Lee added. "But when he's in disguise as Player 001, he probably found some of his past self whilst playing the games. I believe that maybe he might have recovered some of the good in him while being this player in the game."

"Squid Game" season 3 features the first and only flashback featuring the Front Man, revealing he was a member of the games who survived by murdering the other contestants in their sleep. This experience broke him, leaving him with a bleak worldview that human beings will stoop to any level to protect themselves. Before that, however, he seemed to have found community in the games. Indeed, his relationship with Gi-hun's group seemingly allowed him to enjoy a similar sense of camaraderie.

This may be why he was so moved by Gi-hun's decision not to kill the other contestants like he did near the end of "Squid Game" season 3. Gi-hun proved that not everyone would've done what the Front Man had done, which contradicts what the latter told himself to justify his behavior. And yet, the Front Man doesn't seem unhappy about losing that argument; rather, it's apparently rekindled some of his hope in humanity.

"Front Man wants to prove Gi-hun wrong that if he tries the games again then he will become the pessimistic soul that I am," Lee observed. "But another part of him wants to cheer for him and root for him, and hope he is right that we have not lost all hope in humanity. It's very complex, and he has that duality inside of him."

"Squid Game" is now streaming on Netflix.