This article contains spoilers for Squid game Season 2.
Squid game is officially back. Three years after the dystopian Korean drama broke streaming records as Netflix’s most-watched series of all time, all seven episodes of season 2 were released on the streamer on December 26.
After Season 2 picks up where the previous season left off, a year after the matches ended, Season 2 jumps two years into the future and follows Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), aka Player 456, who managed to win the prize of 45.6. billion South Korean won. Gi-hun chooses to re-enter the game of survival to the death with the intention of taking out Front Man, the murderous mastermind behind the competition.
Of Squid game Set to end in 2025 after the third and final season, series writer, director and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk deliberately ended Season 2 on an explosive cliffhanger. The latest episode leaves fans wondering what will happen next in what Hwang told Netflix’s Tudum is the “second chapter of Gi-hun and Front Man’s showdown.”
“The fierce clash between [Gi-hun and Front Man’s] two worlds continue in the series finale with Season 3, brought to you next year,” Hwang said in a letter to fans earlier this year.
Here’s what else viewers need to know about season 3.
When does season 3 premiere?
While no specific date has been set, fans can expect season 3 to begin streaming sometime in 2025, according to Netflix. Hwang told Entertainment Weekly that he initially envisioned Season 2 and Season 3 as “one story,” but opted to split it into two separate seasons after realizing how many episodes he needed to complete the saga.
“Originally, I saw seasons 2 and 3 as one story,” he said. “That’s how I wrote it. But gradually it turned out to be too many episodes. That’s why I thought it would be better to divide it in two.”
Seasons 2 and 3 of Squid game were reportedly filmed back-to-back.
Lee Byung-hun, center, in season 2 of Squid game. (Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)
What’s coming in season 3?
In the making of the last two seasons of Squid gameHwang told Entertainment Weekly that he knew fans were eager to find out what became of Player 456 after he won the grand prize. Season 3 will tie up loose ends.
Hwang, who made history as the first Asian to win an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series, said: “I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after we left him at the end of Season 1, and what he does, what actions he takes to stop the games. As a creator, writer and director, it was almost my mission or my role to continue telling that story… the story I wanted to tell came to a complete end at the end of season 3.
Lee Jung-jae in season 2 of Squid game. (Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Season 3 will delve into the fallout from Gi-hun’s failed attempt to end the games, Hwang told Netflix’s Tudum: “First, he couldn’t convince his fellow players to stop Squid Game by voting.” Gi-hun also “did not fail to use physical strength and power to stand up to those who organized the game.”
Audiences can also expect a new game just like Red light, green lightin Season 3.
The final credits scene in season 2 is “basically a [sneak peek] of Cheol-su, who, like Young-hee, is a new giant doll that we will show in season 3,” Hwang told Entertainment Weekly. “And that’s also a hint at the most exciting match in Season 3. So even though it hasn’t been shared yet, I hope everyone will be excited to meet Cheol-su and the new game.”
Who won’t come back?
Hwang told AP that unlike season 1, he had “more screen time for more characters” in seasons 2 and 3. Realizing that “the world has changed,” he chose to include younger characters this time to address the problems of having movies to display better. tons of debt in my twenties and thirties.
“Now I feel like there are fewer decent jobs for young people and hard work doesn’t even get them into the middle class,” he said. “They want to hit the jackpot, so that’s why they invest in cryptocurrency. In Korea, there are many young people in their early 20s or 30s who are turning to online gambling. I wanted to show what society is really like today.”
But more characters could potentially mean more deaths.
One of the most shocking deaths in Season 2 is Gi-Hun’s ally Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), aka Player 390, who is shot and killed by Front Man in the final minutes of the finale. Considering his on-screen death, Jung-bae is unlikely to return for season 3.
Lee Jung-jae, left, and Lee Seo-hwan in season 2 of Squid game. (Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)
How will the series end?
When Hwang teased what’s to come for Gi-hun in Season 3, he compared his resourceful protagonist to the villainous and seemingly unstoppable Front Man.
“Is [Gi-hun] are you still going to believe that he can convince others and leave together or end the game? Hwang asked Netflix’s Tudum, referring to Gi-hun’s inner conflict. “Or will he give in and become a completely different person? Someone like the frontman who thinks: ‘What can I change?’”
Actor Lee Byung-hun, who plays Front Man, also told Tudum: “It’s almost like she [Gi-hun and Front Man] bet against each other. …The frontman asks questions like, ‘Do you really think you can finish the game? Do you really think there is hope in people? Do you really think the world is going to change?’”
As for what Hwang thinks of season 3, the writer-director told AP: “It’s better than season two.”
Squid game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
