Who plays the VIPs in Squid Game season 3?

Members of the nasty group first appeared in Squid Game season 1, but an all-new cohort debuted in the third and final season, sharing one thing in common with the originals: questionable acting.

Given that Squid Game was able to attract an A-list Hollywood star for its season 3 finale, it's surprising that director Hwang Dong-hyuk opted not to tap more established names to play the VIPs in this concluding chapter.

Instead, the group is portrayed by four little-known actors and one entertainment lawyer, all of whom are facing some backlash for performances that have been deemed subpar by some viewers.

It's a situation that the original VIP actors will be all too familiar with, having faced their own share of scathing criticism when Squid Game season 1 launched back in September 2021.

Speaking to The Guardian at the time of the furore, season 1 actor John D Michaels explained that "non-Korean performers [working in South Korea] often act with dialogue that is translated by a non-native... so it can sound unnatural".

Fellow season 1 VIP actor Daniel C Kennedy added more context in that same interview, noting that "we were all wearing very heavy plaster masks, and sitting on couches that were at least 20-30ft away from the closest VIP".

He added: "We all had to yell our lines vaguely into the air, which added to the weird tonality of the delivery."

It's possible that some of the same problems re-emerged during the filming of season 3, with one of the new VIPs claiming that his performance was dubbed over in one of the most widely watched versions of the show.

Read on for more on what he had to say, and details on the other people behind those dazzling VIP masks in Squid Game season 3.

Who plays the VIPs in Squid Game season 3?

The VIPs in Squid Game season 3 are played by largely unknown actors David Sayers, Jane Wong, Bryan Bucco and Jordan Lambertoni as well as entertainment lawyer Kevin Yorn.

David Sayers is a British actor from Hastings, who has worked in UK-based and international theatre productions. His recent screen credits include a variety of short films and Hindi-language thriller Operation Mayfair.

Jane Wong plays the lone female VIP in Squid Game season 3. She is originally from Hong Kong and her credits include local crime dramas Raging Fire and Bursting Point (see IMDb).

Bryan Bucco is from New Jersey in the US, although his Backstage page notes that he is "conversational" in Korean, and his LinkedIn account reveals that he has taught English as a second language in South Korea.

Meanwhile, Jordan Lambertoni is of French origin, but he too has Korean as a second language (according to IMDb) and recently appeared as an Olympic archer in a local film titled Amazon Bullseye.

Lastly, Kevin Yorn is not actually a professional actor, but rather an entertainment lawyer who represents Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk through his firm, Yorn Levine (via Deadline).

Of the group, Bucco is the one who has come forward to shed some light on the filming of Squid Game season 3, describing it as a "good experience" with "super nice" people, but claiming that his original performance has been dubbed over in some edits.

In a TikTok comment, he wrote: "Every night we [the VIP actors] sat together reading through lines questioning how any of it should really be said."

Bucco went on to say that the VIP scenes were filmed at the tail-end of the shoot when most of the main cast had wrapped, with only The Front Man actor Lee Byung-hun remaining present at that time.

"It was mostly just us sitting in a room. Reacting to something that wasn't there. Not a stressful shoot. Hours were not too long," he continued in a subsequent comment.

Bucco noted that different versions of the VIP scenes are "floating around" on social media, telling viewers that "some have my voice" and others are "clearly not me".

He added: "Some of the actors' voices are more noticeably changed. It seems they did use voice actors to try and sound like us. I don't even want to s**t on my voice actor either because I think he did fine, I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to say his lines either."

Supporting this theory, Bucco shared links to two TikTok fan edits, in which there are indeed different line deliveries from actors playing the VIPs – watch here and here to compare.

For all their shortcomings, the Squid Game VIPs are at least used relatively sparingly, with series editor Nam Na-young telling Entertainment Weekly that they were almost featured more prominently in the final episodes.

"There were more scenes with the VIPs," she said. "As I was editing, I did cut them a lot because when we're in the VIP room, the tension kind of releases. The contestants' emotions and reactions of the games were what I prioritised when editing."

Squid Game seasons 1-3 are available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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