Perhaps because the Christmas holiday is upon us, next week is an extremely light week as far as new Netflix releases go. A normal week, of course, will usually have at least half a dozen or so major releases from the streaming giant, including new TV shows and movies, but not this time. The next seven days will see just two new releases that matter — although these aren’t just any run-of-the-mill titles. They’re actually the reason next week is going to be one of Netflix’s biggest of the entire year, with these particular releases set to capture tens of millions of viewers each.
The first one is obvious, being the follow-up to the biggest Netflix show of all time that fans have been waiting more than three years for. I’m referring, obviously, to the second season of Squid Game, which Netflix has been working hard to prime the pump for via in-person themed experiences around the world as well as a branded video game that’s available to play with a Netflix subscription. “I never imagined that we’d make a second season,” Lee Jung-jae, who plays Gi-hun, said in Seoul during a promotional interview with the streamer.
“Developing new stories and writing a full season is a tremendously daunting task, but the script came out unbelievably well … It was so well written that I often thought director Hwang [Dong-hyuk] was a genius, and I told him that, too. … Finally, the day to reveal the show to you is around the corner.”
Season 2 arrives on Netflix the day after Christmas, with the show’s third and final season hot on its heels — it’s coming in 2025. “You have waited so long,” Lee Byung-hun, who portrays Front Man, said to fans at the Seoul premiere for the new season. “We worked so hard on set, because we wanted to bring Squid Game to the fans as quickly as we could. I think this story will once again beat your expectations.”
Meanwhile, that’s not the only major streaming event coming to Netflix next week.
Following the high-profile boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul that Netflix streamed live last month, the streamer is also going to be the home of the NFL’s two Christmas Day marquee games: One between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers and the other with the Baltimore Ravens facing off against the Houston Texans.
The Chiefs and Steelers will play at 1 pm ET, with Beyonce set to perform during that game’s halftime. At 4:30 pm ET, the second game gets underway. With these games and a star performer like Beyonce, the NFL has also kicked off what’s expected to be a new holiday tradition, with Netflix having already announced NFL games for 2025 and 2026. I don’t need to remind you, though, that anything even remotely resembling a repeat of the technical glitches that marred the Tyson fight will be quite an embarrassing fumble for Netflix. We’ll see what happens, but for now, it’s game on.
