[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the Squid Game season three finale, “Humans are…”]
The Squid Games are over — or are they?
The finale of the third and final season of Netflix‘s global hit series Squid Game has now been released into the world, and the ending from series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk accomplished two things.
Hwang, who writes and directs every episode, delivered on his promise that this final season of his anti-capitalist thriller would conclude the story of protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). The returning Player 456 met a tragic ending to conclude his second round competing in the deadly Games, which explains why Hwang said all along that the streamer’s most-streamed series would only be a three-season story.
During the final and fatal “Sky Squid Game,” Gi-hun went into the last round as one of three remaining players, along with Lee Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan), aka Player 333, and — in the series’ most evil twist to date — the newborn baby who was born earlier during the Games. That baby of Player 333 and Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), the latter who sacrificed herself for her baby’s survival in the previous Jump Rope game, ends up as the Game’s winner.
After a fight for survival with Player 333, Gi-hun had emerged alive, but had failed to press the button to officially start the round. Per the game’s twisted rules, there had to be one death per round, so Gi-hun ended up sacrificing himself in heart-rendering fashion so the baby, who had taken on Jun-hee’s Player 222 role, could survive.
This leaves the baby as the sole survival among all of the contestants who had been introduced in both seasons two and three. This season brought about the devastating deaths of fan-favorites also including transgender former soldier Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), aka Player 120, who was stabbed by Player 333 while trying to save Jun-hee and her baby; and mother Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim), aka Player 149, and son Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), aka Player 007, the latter who was killed by his mother during the Hide and Seek game so Jun-hee and her baby could continue on.
Outside of the players, the series did leave several survivors, including the game’s enigmatic overseer, The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who ended his time on the series by tracking down Gi-hun’s estranged daughter, Ga-yeong (Jo Ah-in), in Los Angeles.
Gi-hun had left his daughter behind in order to go back into the Games for season two, motivated by his survivor’s-remorse and hopes of destroying the Games from within. In the six-month time jump that ended the series, viewers saw Gi-hun’s daughter holding the debit card that we know contains the prize money from the first game that Gi-hun won: 45.6 billion won, which translates to about $31.5 million. Whether The Front Man’s visit to Gi-hun’s daughter is truly altruistic remains open for interpretation.
Detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) and his helper in tracking the island, Choi Woo-seok (Jun Suk-ho), were also alive by the series’ end. And in another twist of empathy, The Front Man left his brother an even bigger windfall when the Detective returned home to find Jun-hee’s surviving and healthy-looking child, along with the 45.6 billion won prize money that comes with Player 222’s winning title.
But the final-final moment that viewers saw with The Front Man was the biggest surprise of all.
After Front Man’s brother had finally discovered the location of the Games, the VIPs and Pink Guards evacuated the island before one final, brief encounter between the brothers. With the Games infiltrated, The Front Man destroyed all evidence by blowing up the island; he and his brother both escaped to safety, along with the baby.
So the Squid Games are now effectively over, right? Not so fast.
After delivering the items to Gi-hun’s daughter, The Front Man is seen driving through Downtown L.A. where he hears the all-too familiar sound of The Recruiter’s ddakji game. (Gong Yoo played the Korean Recruiter who died in season two.) Peering through an alley, The Front Man then spots a new Games “Recruiter” — played by none other than two-time Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett in a major cameo that was kept secret until the show released.
On the streets of L.A., Blanchett’s character was dressed in the Recruiter’s familiar suit and packed an equally mean wind-up slap, this time across the face of a desperate American who no doubt is being recruited for the deadly Games.
We can only assume her character is recruiting American players — could they be for a U.S. version of the show’s eponymous death game?
Netflix has not confirmed if or how the show’s franchise will continue on and while creator Hwang has indicated his interest in a possible spinoff, he has suggested setting a potential follow-up story in the past to explore the big time gap between seasons one and two. So what the future holds for the Squid Games — and Blanchett’s role in them — remains the biggest lingering question now hovering over Netflix’s most globally popular show of all time.
With this ending, Hwang has again accomplished two things.
First, he left hope. Not only did Jun-hee’s baby survive and emerge as the winner, but there was also that callback to the first season — when the family of Gi-hun’s friend from the first round of the Games, the deceased Sae-byeok (Hoyeon), is reunited — and the cliffhanger of this season’s heroic Pink Guard, No-eul (Park Gyu-young), getting a call that her child who she thought was dead may be alive.
But then there is the despair of seeing the Games continuing on with Blanchett’s Recruiter, in whatever form they may take. So until Netflix weighs in on that future, Squid Game leaves us left to ponder Gi-hun’s final, unfinished words: “Humans are…”
The final season of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix. Read THR’s take on the finale cameo and all of our final season coverage.
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