In Los Angeles, 1,600 people ran a 4.56-kilometer race to win admission to an early screening of the show.

In Paris, Netflix shut down the Champs-Élysées so 1,000 participants could test their mettle in a classic children’s game of Red Light, Green Light before 20,000 spectators.

And in Seoul, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza was transformed for a K-pop-like concert, complete with confetti, light sticks and a dance number featuring pink-clad guards.

Hello, world. “Squid Game” is back.

When the deadly, dystopian South Korean show debuted in September 2021, it became a surprise worldwide sensation. It racked up 2.8 billion views on Netflix, the most-watched show or film ever on the service. Sales of white slip-on Vans spiked significantly. Fans designed their own track suits. Backyard versions of Red Light, Green Light became a thing. Netflix was not prepared for the frenzy.

“Everything we did outside of Korea was reactive, because we didn’t know,” Marian Lee, Netflix’s chief marketing officer, said about the huge response. “Even the content executives didn’t anticipate that it would be such a global phenomenon.”