The first trailer for the second season of Squid Game has been released, thrusting viewers back into the deadly arena where Player 456 has returned to play once more.

Three years after his victory in the lethal series of children's games Seong Gi-hun, played by actor Lee Jung-jae, returns as Player 456 and is joined by hundreds of new competitors - and tries to lead them to safety.

The first season of the South Korean drama followed a group of 456 people, desperate and in debt, fighting to the death for a huge cash prize.

It became Netflix's biggest ever series launch, streamed by 111 million users in its first 28 days.

The trailer opens as the sinister masked guards welcome a new cast of characters to the competition.

They are despatched for their first game, also familiar from season one: Red Light Green Light.

In the game, players must advance toward the finish line while a giant mechanical doll has its back turned and freeze when it turns around - or face being shot dead.

Gi-hun only just survived the game in season one, launching himself over the finish line, and this time around tries to coach the players to safety.

But things take a lethal turn when a player moves after being told a bee has landed on her, and is then shot in the head.

As in season one, the players get to vote to stop the game or keep playing. While Gi-hun encourages them to focus on "getting out of this place," the players ignore his pleas.

"One more game," they chant, as the cash prize fills a giant piggy-bank dangling above them.

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk said: “Gi-hun’s endeavour to find out who these people are and why they do what they do is the core story of season two.”

He told Reuters news agency that the season would feature "more intriguing games" and a larger cast of characters than the debut season.

Also returning is the black-masked mysterious Front Man, who oversees the games, and Hwang Jun-ho, the police detective that broke into the games last season to search for his missing brother.

Hwang Dong-hyuk previously said he felt "a lot of pressure" on how to make season two "even better" after the show's runaway success.

In its first four weeks, viewers spent 1.65 billion hours watching Squid Game, according to Netflix.

It followed efforts by the streaming giant to increase its offering of international shows and invest in South Korean dramas.

This time Netflix will be hoping to mirror season one's success as it comes under pressure to show what will power growth in the years ahead, as its already massive reach makes finding new subscribers more difficult.

Netflix has announced that the final, third season of Squid Game will be released in 2025.

The second series of Squid Game will be released on Netflix on 26 December 2024.