Netflix's hit series "Squid Game" made history as the first-ever South Korean show to win an award at the Gotham Awards in New York.
The Korean thriller show won the award for Breakthrough Series -- Over 40 Minutes against “The Good Lord Bird,” “It’s A Sin,” “Small Axe,” “The Underground Railroad,” and “The White Lotus.”
Present at the ceremony were "Squid Game" actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-yeon, as well as the drama’s director Hwang Dong-hyuk and the production company’s CEO Kim Ji Yeon.
In his acceptance speech published by Korean entertainment site Soompi, the show's creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said, “If there’s a miracle, this is a miracle. It happened to me. The only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you for watching it, and thank you for loving it.”
“When I wrote this script, it was 2009, 12 years ago. I did my best, but nobody liked it. People said it’s unrealistic, it’s too violent, it’s absurd, it’s weird. It took 12 years to make this show and show it to the people. And it took less than 12 days to become the No. 1 show on the planet,” he also said.
"Squid Game" has become Netflix's "biggest series launch ever," drawing 111 million fans.