'Squid Game's T.O.P. Might Be Thanos to You, but He Used To Be an Important Part of BigBang

Thanos might be a villain of Season 2 of Squid Game, but there is no denying the love that T.O.P., the actor who played him, got following the second season dropping on Netflix. Outside of the show, T.O.P., whose actual name is Choi Seung-hyun, isn't totally unlike his fictional counterpart. He's even a rapper, formerly part of the K-pop group BigBang. But these days, he is no longer associated with the group, so why did T.O.P. leave BigBang?

While not everything about Thanos in Squid Game mirrors T.O.P.'s real life experiences, there are some similarities. Like Thanos's drug use that got him in trouble. The same thing happened to T.O.P. years before he was ever cast on Squid Game. And it might have been the catalyst for him exiting the famed K-pop group for good in 2023.

T.O.P. got into legal trouble involving marijuana in 2017. But it wasn't until 2022 that T.O.P. announced his plans to leave YG Entertainment, the company behind BigBang. He shared on social media that he planned to pursue a solo career. While he didn't publicly state that it had to do with his legal troubles and admitted substance abuse and mental health struggles, that may be why T.O.P. made the decision to leave the group and branch out on his own.

In 2023, though, some fans were still a bit in disbelief that T.O.P. had really left BigBang. Many even hoped he would make a comeback in the group eventually. But he responded to some of them in his Instagram comments and assured them, using English, that he left the group to try and have a solo music career.

"I've already told you guys that I'm leaving and I'm now facing a new chapter in my life since last year," T.O.P. commented.

Around the same time, he shared a news article about his solo career in his Instagram Stories. And in that post, T.O.P. wrote that he is "still making [his] albums."

With BigBang behind him, T.O.P. has continued to make music on his own. He has also put work into an acting career, made ever evident by his role in Squid Game Season 2. While his character Thanos doesn't last beyond the second season, he's one of the most popular new characters from the show, and he's one that director Hwang Dong-hyuk is especially proud of.

He told The Hollywood Reporter that Thonos is one of his favorite characters. He also hinted at Thanos's influence on the game being far from over, even though T.O.P. is no longer part of the series.

Whether you know T.O.P. because of BigBang or Squid Game was your introduction to the singer-turned-actor, it's clear that he left his mark on the show as much as he did in the K-pop group.