Deadlier games, shocking twists, and big revelations—Squid Game’s final season looks more thrilling than ever.
The final showdown, the highest stakes—Squid Game is nearing its end, and fans of the globally phenomenal series should better gear up for its third and final season, which creator Hwang Dong-hyuk describes as “intense” and “the strongest message yet.”
Unlike with Squid Game season 2, fans don’t have to wait three years for season 3 to drop on Netflix, as it is already slated for release on June 27. The streaming giant announced that it will return to screens on Jan. 30, a month after the previous season was released on Dec. 26 last year.
Squid Game season 3 will pick up with Gi-hun aka Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae) leading a rebellion against the people in control of the games, resulting in the brutal murder of his best friend, Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), at the hands of the Game supervisor, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). Gi-hun is “being driven to utter despair by the Front Man, who was hiding his true identity to infiltrate the game,” the official synopsis states.
This dire despair, which the Front Man ingrained in Gi-hun, will then actively influence the events of season 3, according to Hwang. “It’s difficult for me to share specifics,” he told Yonhap News Agency in an interview last January. “But I can tell you this: I wanted to explore the very end of despair, where even those holding onto the faintest glimmers of hope, see them shattered. When all hope is extinguished and only despair remains, what lies beyond that?”
“In the third season, having that sense of huge guilt and sense of failure weighing heavily on him—how is Gi-hun going to carry on his mission? That’s the story that’ll further unfold,” Hwang said in another interview with Variety.
According to the director, season 3 will bring the story to a definitive close “in every sense of the word.” He told Yonhap that it is, in fact, his favorite among all three seasons. “You should be prepared for something intense,” he added. “It will be the strongest message yet.”
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Deadlier games, shocking twists
According to an adage, action is the antidote to despair. In life and on TV, someone who finds themselves in dire straits can do anything, including risky actions, to improve a bad situation. And while Squid Game season 3 sees Gi-hun doing just that, his plan of successfully ending the games rests on shaky ground.
“The new season will focus on what Gi-hun can and will do after all his efforts fail,” Hwang told Netflix’s Tudum. “The story then takes an interesting turn, questioning whether Gi-hun can overcome his shame and rise again to prove that values of humanity—like conscience and kindness—can exist in the arena.”
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Along with his fight to win against the seemingly impossible, Gi-hun and the rest of the players are also set to be thrown into a new set of death-defying games. The trailer shared by Netflix on June 1 shows Young-hee—the terrifying animatronic doll in the “Red Light, Green Light” game—returning for a new round of play. Another clip released last May suggests that the players will engage in a game where their fate is determined by the color of the capsule toys dispensed by a vending machine.
Danger—more intense than in previous seasons—lurks in every corner of the arena. And Lee Byung-hun, who plays the Front Man, promised that fans “won’t be disappointed.” He previously told Tudum, “In season 2, dramatic narratives centered on various characters, setting the stage for season 3, when these stories reach their climax and culminate in an explosion of dramatic intensity.”
Front Man’s major revelation
Squid Game season 2 was the launchpad for Gi-hun’s mission to stop the deadly competitions, as well as the Front Man’s wicked plan to disrupt Gi-hun’s attempts to sabotage the games and potentially use him for a hidden agenda. The Front Man tries to accomplish that by disguising himself as Player 001 and becoming Gi-hun’s ally.
In season 3, fans can expect Gi-hun to get the shock of his life. He has no idea that his new friend is the ruthless Front Man, who has been heading the deadly competition and the one who killed his best friend right before his eyes. But Squid Game’s latest trailer suggests that Gi-hun is about to learn the truth. Here, he is seen walking through Front Man’s chambers, as the game master removes his mask and asks, “Player 456, do you still have faith in people?’
Who will return in season 3?
Other than Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun, Squid Game season 3 sees the return of Wi Ha-joon who plays the Front Man’s brother, Jun-ho, as he continues his search for the elusive island where the deadly games are taking place.
Adding more drama and action to this complex thriller are cast members Kang Ha-neul as Gyeong-Seok or Player 388, a former marine and Gi-hun’s ally, as well as Park Sung-hoon who portrays Hyun-Ju or Player 120, who is the first transgender character in the show. There’s also Kang Ae-sim and Yang Dong-geum, who play the mother-son duo Geum-ja (Player 149) and Yong-sik (Player 007) in the deadly games.
If you can recall, did you hear a loud cry towards the end of the show’s first trailer? Well, that is because Jo Yuri is set to return as Jun-hee aka Player 222 who was pregnant in Season 2. Because of the trailer, many fans have theorized that Jun-hee will give birth to her baby during the games. Joining her as returning cast member is Yim Si-wan as Myung-gi (Player 333), who is the father of Jun-hee’s child.
Other stars reprising their roles in the series are Lee David as Min-su (Player 125), Roh Jae-won as Nam-gyu (Player 124), and Park Gyu-young as No-eul. The six-episode show will start streaming on Netflix on June 27.
All photos from Netflix
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