Squid Game is back for its third season, though fans hoping for a Squid Game season 4 will be disappointed to learn that the most recently released season looks to be the last instalment of the hit series.
After unprecedented success with the first season back in September 2021, the release of the second series was received with slightly less wild acclaim and causing even less online discourse. The third instalment has dropped, and has been confirmed to be the final chapter in the story.
Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, who based the survival thriller horror storylines on his own financial struggles and how he viewed the class disparity in South Korea, Squid Game's premise sees game players compete for a cash prize, with those who lose facing brutal death and the prize pool increasing. And the worst part? The underlying message that human nature perpetuates the games.
Player 456 checks in for the final instalment of the hit series.
What has been said about Squid Game season 4?
So the most recent season of Squid Game will conclude the series, and many critics have said this is a good thing. ScreenRant has rightfully assessed that "the core premise of survival and Gi-hun's quest for revenge could feel repetitive. Therefore, by only using its key story drivers as narrative devices until season 3, Squid Game will seemingly end on a high note where it is neither tedious nor weighed down by predictable story developments."
Dong-hyuk has confirmed that “there are no plans to make a season four. It is something we discussed and worked on while working on season three.”
He added that while the season 3's ending might leave fans feeling that a Squid Game season 4 is possible, but “it doesn't necessarily have to be made”.
Will there be a Squid Game spin-off?
Although the main series isn't getting another season, Dong-hyuk has confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that he's interested in exploring the Squid Game universe further through spin-offs. He said that he often considers what the characters were doing at a particular time.
“I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff – not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun looks around for the recruiters,” he said.
“There is that three-year period, and maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that. So that is some vague ideation that I have that could possibly be developed in the future.”
What can we expect from Squid Game season 3?
For those who haven't watched already, in Squid Game season 3 we can expect the return of Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun, Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho/the Front Man, Yim Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi, Kang Ha-neul as Kang Dae-ho, Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho, and many more.
In terms of plot, the synopsis for the new season reads as follows: “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.”
