Picture: Netflix
After a climactic ending to Squid Game season 2, fans are now looking ahead to the show’s third and final season in 2025. It’s all set up to be an epic conclusion to the saga; or a “thrill ride,” as creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk calls it. What can we expect to happen in the show’s endgame?
Squid Game, Netflix’s most popular show, broke viewership records with its first season and is receiving critical acclaim for its second. The South Korean survival drama follows a group of cash-strapped individuals chosen by a mysterious organisation to compete in classic children’s games on a secret island. The winner receives a huge cash prize, pretty much ending their financial struggles forever. However, losing results in death.
Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae) wins the games in season 1, taking home billions. But he ultimately feels guilty, seeing the cash as blood money. And so he sacrifices his chance to return home to his family in favour of remaining in Seoul, determined to put an end to the games once and for all.
What happens in Squid Game 2?
In season 2, Gi-Hun works with underground teams to try to discover The Recruiter (Gong Yoo) — a slender, suited man who invites the desperate to the games. His ardent desire to find the perpetrators of the games ultimately leads him back into the competition, where he finds one of his fellow contestants is long-time gambling friend Jung-Bae (Lee Seo-hwan). And also, unknowing to him, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) has removed his mask and decided to take part in the games as Player 001.
During the competition, Gi-Hun partakes in the various classic children’s games, from Red Light, Green Light to Mingle. In the final episode of the season, Gi-Hun decides to launch a rebellion against the perpetrators. He gathers a team of fighters, and they manage to steal weapons and fight back. However, his rebellion comes up in vain; the contestants are outnumbered by soldiers. In the end, the Front Man returns to his original role, and he kills Jung-Bae in front of Gi-Hun as punishment for his treachery.
Plus, while the games are going on, the side-story follows Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), a police officer who previously broke into the games while seeking out his brother, only to discover its dark secrets. Fast forward to season 2, and Jun-ho finds himself desperately searching for the island where the games are held, but he keeps coming up short.
What key events can we expect to see in Squid Game Season 3?
Looking ahead to the third and final season of Squid Game, we can naturally expect to see the series draw to a definitive conclusion. What this means for the fate of the games, and of course, that of our characters, remains to be seen. Season 2 left us on a pretty big cliffhanger, with the Front Man killing Gi-Hun’s old friend Jung-Bae as punishment for starting a rebellion.
As we look further ahead into the show’s endgame season, there’s some key events that fans can expect to occur. Let’s take a look:
- The final fate of the games. Will the perpetrators of the games witness the fall of their twisted competition?
- Hwang Jun-ho locating the island and confronting his brother. Season 2 ended with Hwang Jun-ho failing to find the mysterious island where the games are held. Once ( or if?) he finds the elusive location, how will he confront his brother, the Front Man?
- More games, and the fate of the current contestants. Despite Gi-Hun’s rebellion, the games are not yet over. After participating in the games, the Front Man is back at the helm. In addition, many contestants remain alive, including the pregnant Ju-hee, as well as mother-son duo Yong-sik and Jang Geum-ja.
- The conclusion of Gi-Hun’s story. In the end of season 1, Gi-Hun decides against returning home to his daughter Ga-yeong in favour of remaining in Seoul to end the Squid Games. Whether he survives to return home is a mystery. We hope so!
Everything we know about season 3 so far
Squid Game season 3 is already confirmed to arrive in 2025. The season has already wrapped, having filmed back-to-back with season 2. It’ll also be the final season. We don’t know exactly what the plot entails beyond our own guesses. In fact, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently revealed that he never planned to continue the story beyond season 1.
“Honestly, when I was first working on the first season, I didn’t have any plans or thoughts about there ever being further seasons,” Hwang told Entertainment Weekly. “In Korea it’s not very common for series to have multiple seasons, and also because season 1 was so incredibly demanding, so I don’t think I had the confidence to once again work on further [seasons] where I would be the writer, director, and creator all throughout.”
Following the enormous success of season 1, Dong-hyuk began to play around with ideas for subsequent seasons:
“I do remember when I was finishing up my scripts for the first season, towards the end, I did have this vague idea. And I got to thinking about creating seasons 2 and 3, firstly because of the huge success of season 1 as well as there being just so much anticipation and expectation for the story to further develop by the fans. So I revisited that little bit of a possibility that I had left towards the end of season 1 after it was created, and we wanted to do a further story.”
It remains to be seen if season 3 wraps up every storyline leaving no stone unturned. For Dong-hyuk, it was all about putting closure to Gi-Hun’s arc. “In terms of why did I decide to end the story with season 3, I think that the story I wanted to tell came to a full closure at the end of season 3. The story that I both wanted to tell and that I am capable of telling through Gi-hun, it has been told with season 3,” he explained.
In addition, Dong-hyuk teased the show’s endgame; the face-off between Gi-Hun and the enigmatic Front Man. “The fierce clash between [Gi-hun and Front Man’s] two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year.” Read his statement in full below:
Message Fromsquid Game Creator Hwang Scaled
When will season 3 of Squid Game arrive on Netflix?
Netflix has not yet set a release date for the third and final season of Squid Game. The season is part of the streamer’s official 2025 slate, and our sources tell us the final batch of episodes are eying a Summer 2025 release. Watch this space.
In the meantime, Netflix continues to invest in the Squid Game franchise. A U.S. remake is in the works from David Fincher (Fight Club, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). The series has also made its gaming debut, too, with the release of Squid Game: Unleashed.
Netflix Synopsis: "Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits -- with deadly high stakes."
