Like the players in Red Light, Green Light, Squid Game has come to a stop with the third and final season.

The South Korean series debuted on Netflix in September 2021, with 142 million households tuning in to watch during the first month, Deadline reported. For series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, the idea for the dystopian drama started as a feature film script in 2009, eventually morphing into a television show.

Viewers followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. player 456, a man in serious financial debt, who agrees to participate in a series of children’s games to win money. He joins 455 other contestants, who also need cash, as they all compete to earn the cutthroat competition’s ultimate prize — or die trying.

When season 2 returned in December 2024, Gi-hun returned to the game with a different perspective. As with its debut installment, Squid Game ended up being the most-watched series of the 2024-2025 TV season, per Variety.

Most recently, season 3 premiered on June 27, and the series’ last six episodes conclude Gi-hun’s story.

So why is Squid Game ending? Here’s everything to know about Hwang’s decision to finish the show and whether there will be spinoffs.

Why is Squid Game ending?

Squid Game is ending with season 3 because Hwang had “the desire to put a closure to the story” after working on season 1.

“In terms of why did I decide to end the story with season 3, I think that the story I wanted to tell came to a full closure at the end of season 3,” he told Entertainment Weekly in December 2024.

Hwang added, “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.”

In a January 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the creator revealed that if he ever returned to the world of Squid Game, “it would be about different characters with a different story arc.”

“Some kind of spinoff, maybe. For example, the masked guards. How did they end up here? What do they do in their downtime? Something like that, maybe,” he teased.

Was Squid Game always going to be three seasons?

No, Squid Game was not intended to be three seasons. It was originally conceived as a movie, before becoming what was supposed to be one season of television.

“I was creating season one I didn’t plan in any detail that there would be a second season,” Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2024. “However, I did have something in mind that if there were to ever be a second season, I had this idea of what story I would tell.”

In a December 2024 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he explained that it wasn’t typical for Korean series to have multiple seasons. Hwang also told the outlet that when he eventually started working on expanding Squid Game‘s plot, he initially “envisioned seasons 2 and 3 as a single story.”

“That’s how I wrote it. But in the process, it came out to be too many episodes,” he recalled. “So I thought it’d be better to divide it into two.”

What has the Squid Game cast said about the show ending?

At Netflix’s Tudum 2025 event in June 2025, series star Lee admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he was “very nervous” about how the fans would react to the end of season 3.

“I’m happy with how it ended but I know that the fans out there, they each have what they want to see happen,” he continued. “So I really am curious about how they’re going to respond to it. And I’m very nervous to find out.”

Is there going to be a Squid Game spinoff?

Though the original Squid Game series is over, the franchise continues to expand.

There is a reality competition series, Squid Game: The Challenge, which has been renewed for a second season on Netflix, and the mobile game, Squid Game: Unleashed was released in December 2024.

According to Deadline, an English-language version of the Squid Game series is currently in development at Netflix, with director David Fincher attached.

For those who want to participate in the games themselves, there is also the immersive attraction, Squid Game: The Experience, in New York City.

Where can I watch Squid Game?

All three seasons of Squid Game are available to stream on Netflix.

Squid Game: Season 3 First Reviews: A Twisty, Heartbreaking, Worthy Finale

Critics say the hit series’ final chapter is a step up from season 2, offering a tense, shocking conclusion to what may go down as one of Netflix’s greatest shows.

After making fans wait three years for a second season, Squid Game is already back for its third and final installment just six months later, and the first reviews say it’s a worthy conclusion. The pop culture phenomenon has spawned a reality show spin-off and is set to continue with an American offshoot tied to the original, but this is the series that shocked the world with its satirically violent premise, and it remains as spectacular and bloody and surprising as ever.

Here’s what critics are saying about Squid Game Season 3:

Is this still one of Netflix’s must-see shows?

After Season 3, it’s clear that Squid Game is the best TV show Netflix has ever produced.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

Hwang and his astonishing cast can take a bow knowing they made one of the greatest Netflix shows ever – if not one of the greatest shows ever, full stop.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

This final chapter isn’t without flaws, but it still delivers the suspense and cinematic polish that made Squid Game a hit in the first place.
— Shannon Miller, IGN Movies

Ultimately, Squid Game does its job. But it leaves the impression, too, that it has become a more traditional action-thriller than it once was.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

It brings me no pleasure to report that the third and thankfully last of Squid Game seasons only confirms that we, like Gi-hun, should’ve left that cursed island behind for good after his first victory.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

How does it compare to the previous seasons?

Season 1 was phenomenal. Season 2 was better. Season 3, rather extraordinarily, is the best.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

For anyone who found the second season of Squid Game a huge disappointment, here’s some good news: the third and ostensibly final season is a big improvement.
— Karl Quinn, Sydney Morning Herald

After what I felt was a disappointing season 2, the final episodes wrap things up perfectly.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

A staggeringly excellent final season, one that recaptures the utter heartbreak of the latter half of Season 1… Squid Game Season 3 can count itself a winner.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

Nothing will recapture the sheer “what the hell am I watching?” quality of a first season that came out of nowhere. But this is a satisfying sign-off – tied up winningly with a blood-stained bow.
— Ed Power, Daily Telegraph

Does it go in any new directions?

Dong-hyuk actively sidelines Gi-hun for the early hours to dig into the supporting cast. It’s a highly effective decision, one that dovetails nicely with the increasing stakes of late-round games. The effect infuses Squid Game with a newfound sense of hopelessness.
— William Goodman, TheWrap

It is odd to criticise Squid Game for not being credible, given that it is a hit show about an underground tournament in which children’s games are played until many or most of the participants die, but introducing this new player is completely out there.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

The reality of having a newborn baby in the games massively amplifies the dystopian nightmare fuel the show is so adept at.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

Has it lost anything since the first season?

The satire has ebbed away… nowhere near as pointed as it was.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

In season three, the plot has lost some of that nerve, reaching for redemption that feels slapdash and therefore, sometimes, hollow.
— Emily Watkins, iNews.co.uk

How are the games this season?

One of the most entertaining parts of Squid Game is the actual games, and the same remains true for the final season.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Third time out, the challenges hark back to the cartoonish cruelty of series one.
— Ed Power, Daily Telegraph

Production designer Chae Kyoung-sun excels once again in season 3: the games look stunning, the most unnerving blend of childhood whimsy and unrelenting brutality.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

The staging of the games is awesome; these are truly some of the most immersively stressful set-pieces on TV.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

None of them feel as well thought through as the first season’s challenges… The games now feel like an add-on to a baggier story that sprawls towards its ending.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

Are there any standout performances this time?

What Lee Jung-jae has accomplished this season, and throughout Squid Game‘s entire run, is one of the greatest television performances of all time.
— Meghan O’Keefe, Decider

I really can’t praise Lee’s performance across all three seasons highly enough: transforming a character so completely is a serious challenge, and one that he makes look effortless.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

There is a standout: Im Si-wan’s Lee Myung-gi, who comes to the fore in an unexpected way.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

Will this season leave us heartbroken?

Viewers are sure to shed some tears… There are twists and turns and shocking decisions that are made that are sure to break the hearts of viewers.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

There are several deaths that are incredibly painful to watch.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

Remember how crushing the marble game was back in Season 1? An early episode of Season 3 manages to top that, to absolutely heart-wrenching effect.
— William Goodman, TheWrap

Remember the way Marbles made you feel like you’d been stabbed in the heart? Prepare for that all over again, but worse.
— Molly Edwards, Total Film

Is the ending shocking?

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk still has a few more nasty tricks up his sleeve — including one final twist of the knife so cruel I gasped when I realized what was happening.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

The final minute of the whole thing… contains a moment so WTF and genuinely surprising that I bet my editor a serious amount of money she wouldn’t be able to guess what happens.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

I won’t spoil the end – just know that the last challenge deserves to go straight into a textbook as a case study for ethics students, and I mean that as a sincere compliment.
— Emily Watkins, iNews.co.uk

Should season 2 and season 3 have been one season?

Season 3 [is] made up of a group of episodes that really should be considered “season 2.0” rather than a whole new installment.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

The two halves could have made a tight single season, but in this drawn-out state, it remains loose around the edges.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

Are there any other major issues?

There is no excuse for the time given to the VIPs, who appear to be in a different show to everyone else.
— Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian

The inclusion of a new round of VIPs… becomes a vehicle for restating the obvious instead of offering something new or insightful to the proceedings.
— William Goodman, TheWrap

There is one criticism regarding the use of extremely specific VFX… but it’s too much of a spoiler. For the most part, the show employs physical effects and makes everything feel as tangible as possible.
— Cameron Frew, Dexerto

Will it leave us excited for the spin-off?

The reason for leaving things the way they did is so that this series can effortlessly blend with the new one. After that tease? I cannot wait.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

The series has one last jolt to offer on its way out, one that could just be a fun little bow to tie the whole thing together or the start of yet another new spinoff chapter. For its sake and our own, let’s hope it’s the former. The kindest thing to offer this universe now might be a mercy killing.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

Squid Game: Season 3 is currently available to stream on Netflix.

‘Squid Game’: Park Sung-hoon Breaks Down Hyun-ju’s [SPOILER] and Why Her Motivation Shifts in Season 3: ‘I Feel Very Emotional Right Now’

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from “Squid Game” Season 3, Episode 2, now streaming on Netflix.

When Park Sung-hoon filmed Cho Hyun-ju’s death scene during “Squid Game” Season 3’s memorable game of hide-and-seek, he managed to surprise himself by nailing it right away.

“Director Hwang [Dong-hyuk] gave me a direction saying, ‘When Hyun-ju slips away from the camera, could you have one tear roll down your face?’ And I thought it would be hard, but I actually did it in one take,” Park tells Variety. “So when I finished it, the staff all clapped and cheered for me.”

But that doesn’t mean saying goodbye came easy, especially because Hyun-ju’s death happens so unexpectedly early in the season. “Recently, I’ve played a lot of villain characters, so I was so lucky to be able to play Hyun-ju, who is such a cool character,” Park says. “It was very hard for me to say goodbye to her, because I thought she would last longer. I think she died earlier than she should have, so it’s a shame.”

Hyun-ju was introduced in Season 2 as one of the main players in the new game, with the goal of using the cash prize to help fund her gender-affirming surgery after getting discharged from the military. Relying on her training, she ends up teaming up with Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), becoming an instrumental leader in the rebellion. Variety previously spoke with Park about the preparation that went into playing a trans character as a cis actor.

After Gi-hun’s rebellion fails at the end of Season 2, Episode 2 of this final season kicks off with half the players being forced to kill another player, while the hiders try to find the exit. Hyun-ju immediately sticks with the older woman, Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim), and the pregnant Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), who are all on the same team. Along the way, Hyun-ju is forced to kill off players from the opposing team, showing off her military training. Upon stumbling on the exit, she goes back to save Geum-ja and Jun-hee’s newborn baby before being stabbed in the back by Lee Myungi-gi (Yim Si-wan).

Below, Park breaks down Hyun-ju’s decision to sacrifice herself, what it meant for a trans character to witness the baby’s birth, and how the actor continues to reflect on the LGBTQ+ community’s warm response to the character.

Can you talk about the big emotional scene when Hyun-ju finds the exit, opens the door and decides to go back, ultimately sacrificing herself to save the other two women? What’s going through her head in that moment?

When she finds the exit, it was just an automatic response for her to take a step. But I think her motivation shifted from Seasons 2 to 3. In Season 2, her main motivation was to get the money so that she could get her gender affirmation surgery, go to Thailand and start over. But in Season 3, her big motivation became protecting the weaker woman here, Geum-ja, and Jun-hee’s newborn baby as well. So when she took a step outside, I think there was a wake up call inside her head telling her to go back: “You have to protect these people.” So I think the only thought that was left in her head at the moment was to go and save them. I remember limping and being very bloody, walking back to the room, and I feel very emotional right now, actually, thinking back to that scene, because it was such a sad and heartbreaking moment.

What was the experience like filming that death scene? Was it the last scene you shot?

The final scene I filmed was when I’m being photographed by the Squid Game organizers. The scene when Jun-hee gives birth was so special to Hyun-ju because the birth of a life is such a holy and sacred thing. Especially as a trans woman, I think Hyun-ju would have lots of emotions swirling inside of her watching that happen. When Myung-gi stabs me in the back and kills me, there’s a line in the script that says, “Hyun-ju’s soul leaves her eyes.” So I tried to stay true to the script.

Before Hyun-ju’s death, we also see her in action, killing two other players in self-defense. What preparation went into the choreography for those violent scenes?

Before we got into shooting the scene, we went to action school to start off with the basic training, and then we learned the choreo for that scene. We did a little bit of adjustments on set, but we basically followed the choreo that was given to us. And one of the two actors who I fought with in that scene actually spent seven years in a Chinese temple called Shaolin Temple, which is known for martial arts. So that guy was so skilled, he knew how to act and react. Together with him, I knew I could create a really cool scene. The important thing when I was filming that scene was that Hyun-ju really wanted to protect Geum-ja and the newborn baby, and in order to do that, she had to kill these people. But she is actually a very warm-hearted person, and has a very good moral compass, so I thought that she would hate to kill these people, even if she has to. So I thought of looking away when stabbing because she didn’t want to see that she was actually killing someone. So every time she’s stabbing someone, she’s looking away.

That’s a really interesting choice. I also liked the moment where, after you kill the last player, you trace the blood on your face. Another player on the red team thinks of trying to kill you, but decides to keep going down the hallway because they’re too sacred.

Director Hwang was actually very keen on that scene, because he told me that when Hyun-ju is wiping off the sweat and there’s blood stained all over her face, she got to look badass. We went for like 10 or more takes to make her look really cool in that scene. And as you said, there’s the other player who just passes by and decides not to fight me. I think that was very funny — it’s a scene that shows Hyun-ju’s charisma and aura. So that’s also a moment I hold dear to my heart.

The whole set for the hide and seek game is incredible, and feels so overwhelming. Can you talk about how expansive it was? It all looks very practical.

The set for hide and seek was actually just one floor. It looks like it’s got multiple floors when you watch the show, but that’s all done with CGI. The overarching concept for the hide and seek set was the ocean. And you know how the ocean is the route to all life, it gives birth to all life, and Jun-hee gave birth in that setting of an ocean. So I thought that was meaningful.

I know you said that Hyun-ju died earlier than she should’ve. Now that the series is wrapped, how do you feel about where you got to leave off the character? Do you feel like you got to do her justice?

It’s always hard to say goodbye to your characters, but it’s especially hard if it’s Hyun-ju, who is such a cool character and such a nice person. It was very hard for me to say goodbye to her, especially because I received so much love and support from fans all across the world. And I think me being a cisgender actor playing a transgender character, it also has its meaning, to some extent, because we’re all people, we deserve the same amount of love and respect. Even though I’m a cisgender actor playing a transgender character, the LGBTQ+ community saw Hyun-ju under a very positive light. They loved, respected and supported her, and I’m just so eternally grateful for what they’ve done for her.

It feels significant that Hyun-ju died alongside the first person who accepted her as trans, as well as Geum-ja, who took much longer to accept her. There’s two different perspectives that still come together for her in the end.

The goal for the three women was the same: Protect the newborn baby. It was like women solidarity together. And as you said, Geum-ja took a little more time to warm up to Hyun-ju and accept and embrace her as her friend and family. She goes through that transformation, and I think that’s what’s really important. If there are people out there that still have prejudices and biases against the LGBTQ+ community, I hope they would warm up to it just like Geum-ja did.