Netflix's original South Korean dystopian series Squid Game might have won the hearts of millions across the globe but its finale didn't go down well with professional basketball player LeBron James.
During a press conference, he told fellow athlete Anthony Davis that he "didn't like the ending".
In a video clip posted on Twitter on Oct 13, the 36-year-old said: "I didn't like the ending. I know it's supposed to start off season two, but get on that f****** flight and see your daughter. What are you doing?"
???spoiler alert???
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) October 13, 2021
LeBron and AD discuss their thoughts on Squid Game and I briefly lose my professionalism pic.twitter.com/HWP1tHi8oK
When asked about LeBron's critique by The Guardian, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk giggled and asked: "Have you seen Space Jam 2?"
The 50-year-old added: "LeBron James is cool and can say what he wants. I respect that. I'm very thankful he watched the whole series. But I wouldn't change my ending. That's my ending. If he has his own ending that would satisfy him, maybe he could make his own sequel. I'll check it out and maybe send him a message saying, 'I liked your whole show, except the ending.'"
To say the series has been a global phenomenon is an understatement. Netflix estimated that it has been watched by 142 million households and boosted its subscriber count by 4.4 million.
And according to internal documents viewed by Bloomberg, the show will create almost US$900 million (S$1.2 billion) for the company.
That said, the unexpected windfall for the streaming giant didn't translate to a windfall for Dong-hyuk. The director revealed he's not as rich as the winning contestant on the show, but "I have enough to put food on the table".
"And it's not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract," he said.
bryanlim@asiaone.com