Netflix’s Squid Game finally returned for its sophomore season in late 2024, and now the popular Korean drama has been renewed for its third and final season. Debuting in 2021, the dystopian thriller involves a game show that enlists desperate players to participate in familiar children’s games to win cash. Unfortunately, those games come with deadly consequences that play out for the amusement of the nation’s wealthy elite. Season 1 took the world by storm when it debuted internationally, and it became one of the streamer’s biggest shows of all time.
Despite its popularity, Squid Game season 2 wasn’t rushed back into production, and took over three years for the follow-up to finally arrive. Once again following survivor Gi-hun, the second season shifts tone a bit as he tries to tear down the dystopian games from the inside. Without skimping on the delightfully deadly games in Squid Game, the second season raises the stakes, as the objective isn’t just to survive and win, but to destroy the evil institution that puts the games on in the first place. Season 3 is already confirmed, but it will also be the last.
Squid Game Season 3 Latest News
The Series Creator Explains Why The Show Is Ending
While many are still reeling from the shocking events of season 2, the latest news finds the series creator explaining why season 3 will end Squid Game. When it was announced that Squid Game would return for a third season, it was also revealed that it would be its conclusion. This news wasn’t particularly surprising, but creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has finally clarified why he went with a three-season plan. “I think it sort of naturally came to me that this was the finale,” said Dong-hyuk.
The three-act structure is common in all forms of storytelling, and a clear beginning, middle, and end is something that will serve Squid Game particularly well. While discussing his decision to structure the show in such a way, Hwang Dong-hyuk also let slip that he’s “nearly done with the editing portion of season three.” This is a revelation when considering the long wait between seasons 1 and 2, and serves as further proof that the 2025 release window is more than feasible.
Read Hwang Dong-hyuk’s full comments here:
“When I was thinking about the idea for the ending of season three, I think it sort of naturally came to me that this was the finale. I believed that with that story, I was able to tell everything that I wanted to tell through the story of Squid Game and also in the perspective of Gi-hun as a character, and I thought that we don’t need any further stories from here.”
Squid Game Season 2 Is Confirmed
The Games Conclude In 2025
Arriving as one of the biggest series in Netflix’s history, it came as no surprise that Squid Game season 2 was quickly green-lit. However, the extended wait between seasons could have put a damper on the show’s eventual return in 2024, and ruined any chance of a third season. Those fears were unfounded though, as Netflix opted to renew Squid Game season 3 a few months before the arrival of the second installment. The August 2024 announcement came with a fan letter from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, thanking the world for its warm reception to Squid Game.
The announcement did come with some sad news as well, and it was confirmed that the upcoming third season of Squid Game will also be the last. On the flip side, Hwang Dong-hyuk promised that Squid Game would arrive in 2025, a much faster turnaround than season 2. Since the announcement, Dong-hyuk has revealed that the final season is nearing the end of its editing phase, with production of seasons 2 and 3 happening concurrently in order to speed up the process. Exactly when season 3 will arrive remains a mystery, but it will likely drop in the first half of the year.
Squid Game Season 3 Cast Details
Who Survived The Squid Game In Season 2?
Though many characters perished during the events of Squid Game season 2, there were also plenty of survivors who will certainly return in season 3. Still trapped in the nightmarish games, Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun will likely be the main protagonist in season 3, especially in the aftermath of his failed uprising attempt. He isn’t the only player to participate in the uprising that made it through season 2, as Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul) and Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) both presumably survived since they were back in the dorms when the Masked Men restored order.
Less combative contestants like mother-son duo Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) made it through, and there’s no reason to think that the roster will change much between the seasons. Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), and Seon-nyeo (Chae Kook-hee) will help fill out the roster as the games presumably continue in the third and final season. The dastardly Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) is a necessity in season 3, and the compelling B-plot involving the traitorous Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) means Jun-ho’s (Wi Ha-jun) team will need to reprise their roles in season 3 as well.
The cast of Squid Game season 3 will likely include:
| Actor | Squid Game Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Lee Jung-jae | Gi-hun |
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| Kang Ha-neul | Dae-ho |
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| Park Sung-hoon | Hyun-ju |
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| Kang Ae-sim | Geum-ja |
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| Yang Dong-geun | Yong-sik |
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| Jo Yu-ri | Jun-hee |
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| Im Si-wan | Myung-gi |
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| Roh Jae-won | Nam-gyu |
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| Chae Kook-hee | Seon-nyeo |
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| Lee Byung-hun | The Front Man |
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| Wi Ha-jun | Jun-ho |
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| Oh Dal-su | Captain Park |
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| Jeon Seok-ho | Woo-seok |
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| Gong Yoo | The Salesman |
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Squid Game Season 3 Story Details
Gi-hun Still Has To Finish The Squid Game
After a chaotic and unsurprisingly violent conclusion to Squid Game season 2, things are clearly set up for an epic conclusion in the third and final season. Not only did Gi-hun’s plan to tear down the games from the inside fail spectacularly, it cost him a dear friend and maybe even his sanity in the process. Proving that they could break his spirit at will, the minds behind the games decided to let Gi-hun live, even though he was the ringleader of the rebellion. Now, he has to decide if he wants to continue his Quixotic quest, or just try to survive the last of the games.
Elsewhere, Jun-ho’s mission to infiltrate the games from the outside hit a snag when it was revealed that the swarthy ship captain, Park, was actually a double agent. This not only puts Jun-ho and Woo-seok’s lives in danger, but it likely means that Gi-hun won’t have any outside help on the final leg of his journey through Squid Game. While a bevy of shocking twists are expected, the final season will likely continue the deadly game to its conclusion. The mid-credits sequence puts a new spin on the classic red-light-green-light game, suggesting that each task is getting deadlier.
