Death Explained, Season 3 Plans, Credits Scene

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from “Squid Game” Season 2 finale, now streaming on Netflix.

Game over — for now. “Squid Game” Season 2 concluded its seventh and final episode with the brutal murder of Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) best friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) right before his eyes. Jung-bae is shot dead by Squid Game supervisor The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) after Gi-hun leads an uprising of the players in the current game.

While the death on its own is shocking and gutting and horrifying, it’s made all the more gruesome for the viewer than Gi-hun because, unlike our hero, the audience knows The Front Man’s true identity: he’s In-ho, a previous winner of the Squid Game who now works as the head guard.

In-ho has spent this game posing as Player 001 (going by the name Young-il) and growing close to Gi-hun and Jung-bae to gain their trust and pretend to be part of their cause and rebellion, only to don his Front Man mask again in the end and kill Jung-bae to punish Gi-hun.

With one more season to go, “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk broke down the Season 2 finale for Variety — including the mid-credits scene that teases an unfamiliar version of the Squid Game featuring new male and female versions of the giant, lethal laser-eyed “Red Light, Green Light” dolls — and what he has planned for Season 3 and the series finale.

“Squid Game” Season 2 ends on a massive cliffhanger with The Front Man (In-ho/Young-il, unbeknownst to Gi-hun) killing Jung-bae right in front of Gi-hun, leaving Gi-hun to scream in horror as the pink guards hold him down and force him to watch his friend bleed out. Why did you decide to end the season here?

When I first wrote the story of Seasons 2 and 3 it was one long story arc. And I was originally planning to write this story across a span of about eight to nine episodes, but once I finished the story, it came to over 10 episodes, which I thought was too long to contain in a single season. And so I wanted to have an adequate point where I could give closure as a second season and then move on with the third. And when you look at Gi-hun’s story, all of his attempts that he puts in to stop the game: the first one being getting these mercenaries and trying to plant a tracking device, that goes to fail; the second attempt of trying to persuade people to vote so that they can leave the game, that goes to fail as well; and then the third and last attempt of bringing people together and causing the rebellion, it also all goes to fail.

So all of his failures lead to this heavy, heavy crisis of having to lose his very best friend, Jung-bae, at the hands of The Front Man. And when you think about Gi-hun’s journey, I thought that that was an adequate moment to put a stop and give him a little bit of closure along that long story arc. And then from that moment on, 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.

When can we expect Season 3 to premiere and what can you tease about the storyline for the series’ final episodes?

At this point, anything I might say is going to be a spoiler, so I want to be cautious. But what I can say is, after Season 2 launches, I believe we will be announcing the launch date for Season 3 soon. I probably expect that to launch around summer or fall next year. But as for the storyline of the third season, Gi-hun having lost everything, including his best friend, and all of his attempts going to failure, it’s now, what is he going to be like? What state is Gi-hun going to be in? And what will he choose to do? Will he continue on with the mission? Is he going to give up or persist? And so you’re going to meet our character Gi-hun at a very critical crossroads as we begin the third season. Gi-hun will not be the man he was in Season 2.

With Gi-hun and a good portion of other players having rebelled against The Front Man and pink guards in Season 2, will the show’s format change in Season 3? How will they be able to go back to the regularly scheduled Squid Game now that so many of the players have disrupted the system?

If you saw the hidden clip after the ending credits roll after the last episode of Season 2 — if you watch that clip, it’s going to give you a slight hint as to where Season 3 might take you. I think that’s all I can say, for now.

Which of the Season 2 games did you find the most satisfying to shoot and why?

I’d say the pentathlon. Not only was it the most challenging to shoot, but I think after we had finished filming it, I enjoyed watching it myself the most. And especially so because within one round of games, you get five smaller games. And as in Season 1, I wanted to showcase these actual children’s games that Korean people grew up playing, especially the ones that I grew up playing myself. With the way I got to show the world five different games in a single round, I would say the pentathlon was probably the most satisfying to shoot.

What do you want to tease about the remainder of the series?

With each episode it’s going to get better. With each season it’s going to get better and a more expanded story, more intense story, and definitely more entertaining. So just be sure to watch it until the very end!

This interview has been edited and condensed.