Note: This story contains spoilers from “Squid Game” Season 3.
No matter what you may have seen on social media, “Squid Game” Season 3 is the definite end of the series. But series creator, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk is open to telling more stories in this universe.
“The reason I had Cate Blanchett in that scene at the end, it came from a place where I just wanted an impactful ending. It wasn’t anything to hint at a Season 4 or anything like that,” Hwang told TheWrap.
Blanchett appears briefly in the final moments of the very last episode of “Squid Game.” After the final game, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) travels to Los Angeles to give Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) daughter her late father’s belongings and winnings. As he drives away, he spots a woman in a suit, portrayed by Blanchett, playing a game of ddakji with a disheveled man. Once the two lock eyes, Blanchett’s character nods at the Front Man, the implication being she’s currently recruiting for a new Squid Game in America.
Hwang noted that there’s a line in Season 1 where one of the VIPs say the Korean version of the game is the “most entertaining. “It has always been the premise that these games are happening in other parts of the world because ‘Squid Game’ symbolizes the extreme competitive system within late capitalism. So it’s not only about Korea,” he said.
Though the original “Squid Game” has officially come to an end, Hwang is open to more stories set in this universe. The creator is especially interested in stories about the masked guards — a role that was explored more in Seasons 2 and 3 with No-eul (Park Gyu-young) — or the recruiters.
“What kind of people are they behind the masks? What kind of personal relationships do they have with each other? I have these vague ideas that I’m tossing around,” Hwang said. “If there were to be a spinoff, that would be about the Front Man or the Korean recruiter or what happens behind the masked guards.”
The ending of this Netflix mega-hit certainly leaves room for a spinoff about Lee’s Front Man, aka In-ho. The final challenge forces Gi-hun to make a devastating choice: either he kills the newborn baby he’s spent several rounds protecting or he sacrifices himself. Ultimately, he chooses to do the latter. But that wasn’t the first ending Hwang had in mind.
“In the very beginning, when I had a vague idea of what this storyline was going to be, I did think about having Gi-hun live. I thought about an ending where Gi-hun would make it out of the game in one way or another, and he would go to America to see his daughter,” Hwang explained. “But in the process of writing it, I had a change of heart. I thought what story do I want to tell through the show? Also, I looked at what was happening around the world at the time and how there was less hope for humanity. I thought of Gi-hun sacrificing himself for this baby, just as we all should for our future generation. That was a better-fitting ending for both the show and the character.”
This sacrifice also fits into the themes of another major character this season, No-eul. A North Korean defector, No-eul originally joined the game as a masked guard in the hopes of earning enough money to bring her husband and daughter to South Korea. But while doing her job, she recognizes Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook) as one of the game’s contestants, the father of a sick daughter who joins the game to pay for pay for her treatment. No-eul spends most of Seasons 2 and 3 silently protecting Gyeong-seok and even smuggling him off of the island.
It’s no coincidence that this is the second beloved North Korean defector who has appeared in “Squid Game.” Season 1 featured Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon), a woman who makes it to the final three competitors.
“Sae-byeok means ‘dawn’ in English. She was a character that symbolized hope. She was someone who had tried, on her own, everything she could so she could to take care of her brother, and she had this hope and dream of bringing their mother back from North Korea to the south,” Hwang said. “Then you meet No-eul, which in English her name represents ‘dusk.’ She’s someone who’s losing hope. She has given up. She’s almost suicidal. She lives with this deep sadness and guilt that she wasn’t able to save her baby, but she redeems herself through saving Gyeong-seok for his own daughter.”
After No-eul saves Gyeong-seok, she returns back to the island to destroy any files this organization has on either of them. Once there’s no evidence left, she sits in the Front Man’s chair and is about to kill herself until she witnesses Gi-hun’s sacrifice. That moment convinces her to keep going.
“I wanted her to be someone who goes beyond what happens at dusk and once again begins to dream of a new day,” Hwang said. Her new resolve is proven later in the finale when a broker tells her there’s a chance her husband and daughter are still alive. Even though the organizers of Squid Game listed her loved ones as dead and though it’s a long shot, No-eul still boards a plane to China in the hopes of being reunited with her family.
“The symbolism behind children [in the show], it’s not just about the biological child of one character, but I wanted that to symbolize any kind of hope we may have for the future as well as our will to live,” Hwang said. “As what Gi-hun did with the baby of Player 222, also No-eul sets off to find her own kid. I wanted to portray this message where all of these characters and whoever is watching are dreaming of what’s to come in the future.”
Gi-hun’s sacrifice didn’t only impact No-eul. It also had a deep impact on the character who seems most likely to have his own spinoff, the Front Man. Hwang explained that when In-ho first met Gi-hun, their relationship was like a “clash of pride” that tested each man’s belief in humanity. While Gi-hun believed there is hope for humanity, In-ho didn’t, at least not initially.
“By sacrificing himself, Gi-hun’s actions have definitely touched something in In-ho’s heart, maybe a very small sliver of hope that he had hidden deep down in his heart. I also think it may have triggered some shame in him, because that [sacrifice] was something he wasn’t able to do for himself,” Hwang said. “With the gaming arena in Korea being completely ruined and seeing this baby who made it out of the game, there was a huge change within the Front Man, and I think that was triggered and brought about by Gi-hun’s actions. I wanted that to be what the audience feels as well.”
“Squid Game” is now streaming on Netflix.
