South Korean actor Park Sung-hoon recently opened up about his experience playing a transgender character in the hit Netflix series Squid Game. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Park discussed the public perception of him playing Cho Hyun-ju, a former soldier who was discharged after coming out as a trans woman.

As a cisgender actor playing a transgender character, Park admitted that he "really did not want to offend anyone." However, the LGBTQ+ community gave him "lots of love and support" after the second season dropped, which he is "eternally grateful for.

While Park is looking forward to fans watching the third and final season, he mentioned that the moment is "a little bittersweet" because he doesn't want to "say goodbye to" Squid Game.

Playing Hyun-ju" taught Park "so much," he said. "While Hyun-ju is a transgender character, that's just one of her qualities – and she has many, many redeeming qualities. She's selfless, she cares for others, she has leadership, she's brave. So just as a person playing this character, I learned so much from her."

The third and final season of Squid Game follows Gi-hun after losing his best friend in the game and being driven to utter despair by The Front Man, who was hiding his true identity to infiltrate the game. The season drops on June 27 on Netflix.

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