Squid Game Season 3 Ending Explained: The Game Isn't Over Yet, Thanks To A Surprise Last-Minute Cameo

This nonfiction contains spoilers for the bid finale of Squid Game.

After 3 seasons, 22 episodes, and so, truthful galore deaths, Squid Game has yet played its past crippled – and declared a winner, arsenic Season 3 comes to a adjacent connected Netflix.

…Or has it? Show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has already teased a imaginable spinoff taking spot betwixt Seasons 1 and 2. Earlier this week (June 25), Front Man histrion Lee Byung-hun teased adjacent further that the finale whitethorn not necktie things up with a bow, leaving the satellite of Squid Game much unfastened than you mightiness expect. And successful fact, that’s exactly what happened successful the finale arsenic we determination the enactment from South Korea to Los Angeles, featuring a shocking, astonishment A-list cameo. Squid Game has gone Hollywood, baby, and Cate Blanchett herself is recruiting the players!

There’s a batch much to delve into there, and we will. But first, let’s springiness a recap of what went down successful the finale, for context. Leading into the last episode, the crippled was down to 2 – well, technically 3 – players: Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae), aka Player 456; Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), aka the crypto-scamming YouTuber Player 333; and Myung-gi and Kim Jun-hee’s (Jo Yu-ri) baby, who has been rechristened Player 222.

Meanwhile, rogue defender Kang No-eul (Park Gyo-young) had near a dormant assemblage successful the Front Man’s bureau portion trying to find info connected Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook), aka Player 246, whom she had helped escape. Gyeong-seok was astir killed connected the water, lone to beryllium saved by constabulary serviceman Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who was astir killed himself but is present wrong scope of the Game’s concealed island, the happening he’s been searching for since Season 2. And also, unluckily for everyone, including the viewing assemblage astatine home, the billionaire VIPs are back.

That’s a batch to juggle going into the last hour, but it wouldn’t beryllium Squid Game without chaos. So here’s however it each turned retired successful the finale, “Humans Are…”

Squid Game Season 3 Ending Explained

Without getting excessively mislaid successful the rules of Sky Squid Game, the last crippled successful the series, Gi-hun realizes that Myung-gi is apt going to termination the babe successful bid to assertion the last prize money. So contempt his oath to prevention everyone by reentering the crippled astatine the opening of Season 2, Gi-hun alternatively ends up successful a weapon combat with the YouTuber. Myung-gi ends up falling to his death, truthful it’s down to Gi-hun and the babe – and lone 1 of them tin survive, oregon they some die.

There’s a infinitesimal wherever it seems Gi-hun mightiness propulsion the babe disconnected the pillar they’re on… But instead, helium kisses the baby’s head, puts her down, and past looks straight astatine the camera – talking to the Front Man, but besides us, the audience.

“We are not horses,” Gi-hun says. “We are humans. And humans are…”

Without finishing the sentence, Gi-hun falls backwards disconnected the pillar, to his death.

While helium dies, determination are respective different things going on. No-eul has acceptable the records country connected fire, but not earlier discovering that her child, the 1 she was trying to find, which led her to moving for Squid Game, is dead. She astir kills herself, but stops erstwhile she sees Gi-hun’s sacrifice. Meanwhile, Jun-ho gets to the land and sees his brother, the Front Man, instrumentality the baby, and stops abbreviated of sidesplitting him. “In-ho!” helium shouts. “Why? Why’d you bash it?” But there’s nary answer, and the Front Man has started a countdown series to stroke up the island, arsenic the Coast Guard approaches.

So, our surviving characters escape, and six months later, idiosyncratic takes the stacks of wealth Gi-hun was hiding successful his edifice room. Who is it? It’s not explicitly stated, but is apt the Front Man, oregon a rep of the Squid Game. Back astatine the carnival wherever she worked, No-eul visits with Gyeong-seok, whose girl is recovering from cancer. And No-eul besides gets a telephone that her girl whitethorn beryllium live successful China. She’s apt not, but No-eul has decided to anticipation and search, alternatively than determination connected with her life.

Oh, and aft picking up his aged cohorts astatine situation (who are going to instrumentality implicit Gi-hun’s hotel), Jun-ho gets location to find Baby 222, on with a enactment that she is the winner, and a golden card. When Jun-ho checks it astatine an ATM, helium sees that it has 45,600,000,000 won.

What Are Humans: Breaking Down Squid Game’s Horse Metaphor

You get it, right? It’s not conscionable the money: 456 won. Despite dying, the ideological situation the Front Man enactment to Player 456 was proven false, arsenic the second sacrificed himself to prevention 222. The Squid Game continues, due to the fact that arsenic was established successful Season 2, you can’t halt the game. It’s a metaphor for capitalism, and lone by breaking the full strategy of the full satellite could Gi-hun ever anticipation to destruct the Squid Game.

Instead, helium won a personal, motivation triumph by letting himself autumn to his decease to sphere caller life. You tin spot this successful the Front Man’s interactions aboriginal connected (more connected those successful a second); but there’s besides the ominous, dangling question of what that wealth volition bash to Jun-ho, present that helium has entree to it, arsenic good arsenic however it volition interaction 222’s beingness going forward.

So what is the extremity of the condemnation Gi-hun near america on? What are humans anyway, bro? The archetypal happening to recognize is that horses person been a pervasive metaphor passim the series, from the literal horses connected the carousel successful Mingle to the equine disguise worn successful the nine country successful Season 2. And if you’ll remember, erstwhile we archetypal met Gi-hun helium spent astir of his wealth connected equine races. In the finale of Season 1, the Front Man told Gi-hun that “You stake connected horses. It’s the aforesaid here, but we stake connected humans. You’re our horses.” Later connected successful that aforesaid episode, Gi-hun fired back, “Listen carefully. I'm not a horse. I'm a person.”

That sets up the “horse” portion of Gi-hun’s last line, but what astir the rest? The important portion present is that Gi-hun is looking astatine us, the viewer. It’s apt that Hwang Dong-hyuk has a possibility, oregon possibilities successful caput for what humans are. But it is up to america to capable successful the blank there. No shadiness to horses, but the thought is that humans are unlimited. Are we compassionate? Greedy? Loving? Vain? All of that? The reply is yes, humans tin beryllium anything, and are truthful overmuch much than horses moving astir a track. We person the capableness for anything, and that is however Gi-hun “wins,” by proving that helium tin interruption the rhythm with his ain sacrifice.

…But helium hasn’t truly breached the cycle, has he?

Squid Game Heads To Los Angeles, But Is This David Fincher’s Series?

In the last scenes, we chopped to LA, and spot the Front Man has travel to wherever Seong Ga-yeong (Jo A-in) lives. That’s Gi-hun’s daughter, who near with her parent successful Season 1, successful lawsuit you forgot. She doesn’t privation thing to bash with her father, but the Front Man gives her a container with his “belongings,” which weirdly see the bloody 456 uniform, arsenic good arsenic a golden card. Of note, the Front Man intelligibly inactive sees things arsenic capitalist exchanges, contempt what Gi-hun taught him astir horses versus people. Whether the wealth volition alteration Ga-yeong, and besides what she’ll bash with the precise wide grounds of a decease crippled existing, is TBD.

But the bigger, dangling cliffhanger is that arsenic the Front Man is driven done the city, helium passes by an alleyway and hears the distinctive sounds of ddakji being played, followed by slaps. Sure enough, idiosyncratic is successful the alley playing the crippled that leads to Squid Game… And it’s not conscionable “somebody,” it’s Cate Blanchett. She’s the recruiter and is playing with a bearded man, who is losing conscionable similar Gi-hun did each those galore years ago.

Funnily enough, successful Squid Game: The Conversation, a half-hour that follows the last episode, it turns retired that not lone did Lee Jung-Jae person nary thought who the cameo was, but Byung-hun didn’t adjacent get to conscionable her.

“Cate Blanchett, she’s 1 of my favourite actors, but I didn’t adjacent get to accidental hello,” helium says. “She and I changeable that last country separately, since it’s conscionable the camera cutting backmost and distant betwixt us. I couldn’t accidental hullo due to the fact that erstwhile we changeable it, we had to go.”

They besides adhd that Blanchett got ddakji successful beforehand to practice, but according to Hwang Dong-hyuk, “She wasn’t capable to effort it retired overmuch earlier the shoot. She had to deed the different ddjaki and flip it, but she couldn’t get it. So I went implicit and gave her a speedy lesson.”

Don’t worry, helium adds, “the instrumentality we used, that was real… The tilt up from the ddjaki, wherever we archetypal amusement her face. That assurance you see, that’s each real, due to the fact that she’d yet managed to flip it over.”

So is determination much ddjaki successful Blanchett’s future? Back astatine the extremity of 2024, it was reported that David Fincher is moving connected an English-language mentation of Squid Game. The archetypal fearfulness was that it was a remake of the Korean series, which would beryllium highly unnecessary. And astatine 1 point, it seems that Fincher mightiness person been moving connected a movie version. But arsenic of October of past year, the task reportedly coalesced into a series. Fincher, arsenic a contextual note, has a long-standing woody with Netflix, and has already created The Killer, Mank, Mindhunter, and Love, Death and Robots for the streamer.

While we don’t cognize arsenic of this penning if David Fincher’s task is what’s being teased present oregon if it’s conscionable a chill personage cameo of note, Fincher and Blanchett person worked unneurotic earlier connected The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. So it’s wholly imaginable this is simply a amusive tease for the imaginable spinoff series. Or it could beryllium Fincher getting the hook-up for Hwang Dong-hyuk for a cameo. Either way, Squid Game seems to beryllium acold from done.

And frankly, that’s the mode it should be, right? It’s much existent to the bid that the pervasive octopus arms of capitalism agelong each implicit the world. No 1 man’s sacrifice tin alteration that, adjacent if we bash spot hope, love, fear, and an array of non-horse-like emotions coursing done our characters successful the last half-hour of the series. After all, humans are…