NetflixAfter last Christmas, Squid Game Season 3 has been at the top of everyone’s wishlist after that cliffhanger in Season 2 – and now it’s only a few weeks before it drops on Netflix.
Nobody expected Squid Game to become Netflix’s biggest show ever. But it was (deservedly) a worldwide sensation, and now, Season 2 is finally available to stream.
The new chapter follows Gi-hun as he desperately tries to track down the Front Man and stop the games for good. Unfortunately, that comes with a huge risk: he needs to re-enter the games as a player once more.
By the end of Squid Game Season 2, two things will happen: you’ll scream as it cuts to black, and you’ll desperately search, “When is Season 3 coming out?” on Google. Well, here’s everything we know about what’s coming next. Spoilers to follow!
Squid Game Season 3 release date
Squid Game Season 3 will premiere on June 27, 2025, which is something we already guessed thanks to a Netflix leak.
NetflixShortly after Season 2’s release, the official Netflix Korea YouTube channel shared a short that featured this date. It was swiftly removed and replaced without the date in the description, but its tracks weren’t exactly covered.
Seasons 2 and 3 were filmed back to back – that’s why there are only seven episodes in the second season.
Speaking to Deadline, Hwang Dong-hyuk also explained: “I wrote Seasons 2 and 3 at the same time, and we were in production for both simultaneously, and currently we are in the post-production process for Season 3.
“When I was writing the script for the two seasons, I felt like there was a big turning point or an inflection point, and that was the end of Episode 7, so I thought that it would do it justice to have a separate season after that. That’s why I had first seven episodes as Season 2 and then the rest of Season 3.”
Squid Game Season 3 cast
NetflixLee Jung-jae will return as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game Season 3, alongside Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho, the Front Man, and Wi Ha-joon as the villain’s brother Hwang Jun-ho. We’re also set to see:
- Yim Si-wan as Myung-gi (Player 333)
- Park Sung-hoon as Hyun-ju (Player 120)
- Yang Dong-geun as Yong-sik (Player 007)
- Kang Ae-shim as Geum-ja (Player 149)
- Jo Yuri as Jun-hee (Player 222)
Sadly, as you should have expected, a few characters have already been killed off. Gong Yoo’s Salesman shot himself in the opening episodes, so don’t expect to see him again.
Most shockingly, Lee Seo-hwan’s Jung-bae (Player 390), Gi-hun’s closest friend in the new season, was shot and killed by the Front Man after their coup collapsed in the Season 2 finale. There are roughly 45 players left in the games by the end, so expect more deaths when the show returns next year.
Another character who was seemingly killed in Season 2 may also return, going by a photo shared by one of its stars.
Squid Game Season 3 poster
The first official poster for Season 3 dropped just days after the second season premiered on Netflix. While no new information can be gleaned from this design, it once again reassures fans that Season 3 is just around the corner in 2025.
We later got a full post on May 23, 2025, hinting further at what’s to come.
What will happen in Squid Game Season 3?
As Netflix itself says, “every game must come to an end,” and that’s the crux of what we’re going to see in Season 3.
Netflix“Picking up in the aftermath of Season 2’s bloody cliffhanger, the third and final season of Netflix’s most popular series finds Gi-hun, a.k.a. Player 456, at his lowest point yet. But the Squid Game stops for no one, so Gi-hun will be forced to make some important choices in the face of overwhelming despair as he and the surviving players are thrust into deadlier games that test everyone’s resolve. With each round, their choices lead to increasingly grave consequences,” the synopsis continues.
“Meanwhile, In-ho resumes his role as Front Man to welcome the mysterious VIPs, and his brother Jun-ho continues his search for the elusive island, unaware there’s a traitor in their midst. Will Gi-hun make the right decisions, or will Front Man finally break his spirit?”
Plot theories
NetflixAfter Season 2’s cliffhanger, Gi-hun’s fate with the Front Man remains unclear.
Three things could happen to him: he’ll be executed (unlikely), he’ll be forced to re-enter the games as Player 456 (likeliest), or he’ll be tied up or perhaps even made to participate in the games as a guard (the most interesting).
Regardless, the games will continue, and the next game appears to be a twist on Red Light, Green Light, as teased in the post-credits scene.
It’s possible it’s a version of the beep test, with the remaining players forced to run back and forth until they can’t anymore, with each mannequin monitoring their speed and whether or not they make it over the line in time, but this is pure speculation right now. One thing is (almost) certain: it isn’t Jack and Jill.
Also, there’s the small matter of Hwang Jun-ho, who’s trapped on a boat with Captain Park – who was revealed to be a traitor at the end of Season 2.
NetflixSpeaking to THR, the show’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said: “When I was thinking about the idea for the ending of Season 3, 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.”
In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, he also said: “I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after where we leave him at the end of Season 1 and what he does, what kind of actions he takes in order to put a stop to these games.
“As creator, writer, and director, it was almost my mission or my role to further tell that story. And I wanted to repay all of the love that we had received in one way or another… the story that I both wanted to tell and that I am capable of telling through Gi-hun, it has been told with Season 3.”
Squid Game Season 3 trailer
Netflix released a new Final Games trailer for Squid Game Season 3 on June 14, 2025. Check it out below:
The first full trailer for Season 3 dropped on June 1, 2025, which you can catch up with below:
Check out our review of Squid Game Season 2, and read our 10 big predictions for Season 3. You can also read our list of the best TV shows of 2024 and best movies of the year.
