Warning! This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 3.
Squid Gamefinally ends its run with season 3 by not only resolving all underlying points but also featuring an intriguing cameo in its final moments. The hitNetflix Korean show’s final installment begins with Gi-hun returning to the games' common room and reuniting with the survivors. However, after losing his friend, Jung-bae, and holding himself responsible for the deaths of many innocents, Gi-hun feels broken and hopeless. His dark side emerges when he even kills Dae-ho duringSquid Gameseason 3’s first game, hoping that blaming someone else will make him feel a little better.
Killing Dae-ho only makes Gi-hun even more disillusioned and emotionally hollow,but he finally breaks free from his downward spiral when both Geum-ja and Jun-hee leave him with the responsibility of looking after Jun-hee’s newborn baby. Determined to ensure the child’s survival, Gi-hun steps inside the arena of the final game, where everything from his morality to his ability to survive is put to the test. In more ways than one, Gi-hun eventually emerges victorious but pays a hefty price to find peace and redemption.
Why Gi-hun Sacrifices Himself To Let The Baby Win In Squid Game Season 3’s Ending
Gi-hun Realizes His True Purpose
Squid Gameseason 2 had a confusing but seemingly significant scene in which the shaman told Gi-hun that he had only made it this far because he had a purpose to fulfill. She even looked at Jun-hee while talking about Gi-hun purpose, suggesting that his story’s end would have something to do with her. For the most part of the series, the shaman, Seon-nyeo, just seemed delusional. However,her foresight about the prophecy Gi-hun had to fulfill came trueas Gi-hun saved Jun-hee’s baby by putting his own life on the line.
In season 3’s early moments, Gi-hun was on the verge of becoming as cold-hearted as the Front Man. He even had a brush with immorality when he killed Dae-ho during the hide-and-seek game.However, unlike the Front Man, Gi-hun retained the remaining specs of his humanity by not going on a murderous rampage against the other surviving players when the Front Man gave him the chance to. If he had agreed to the Front Man’s offer and killed his competitors in their sleep, he would not have been any different from Myeong-gi, who was willing to kill his child to win.
Holding on to his sense of humanity is what gave Gi-hun the strength to sacrifice himself for the baby.
Holding on to his sense of humanity is what gave Gi-hun the strength to sacrifice himself for the baby. Towards the end,Gi-hun also seems to realize that he may never be able to live with himself in peace after everything he has done and experienced. The baby, however, could finally break the cycles of violence the games perpetuated and grow up in a far better world than Gi-hun lived in.Squid Gameseason 3’s endingalso parallels season 1’s in several ways, given how, like Sang-woo, Gi-hun realizes the price of his actions and allows someone else to win the prize.
Cate Blanchett’s Cameo In Squid Game Season 3’s Ending Explained
The Hollywood Actress Might Be Gong Yoo’s Replacement
Before Squid Game season 3’s credits start rolling,a sequence shows Cate Blanchett dressed up as Gong Yoo’s iconic salesman. She plays the Squid Game recruitment game, Ddakji, with a man and slaps him every time he fails to flip the envelopes in the game. This scene seems to suggest that the rumored Netflix US spin-off ofSquid Gameis already in the works. While only time will tell whether Cate Blanchett will play a role in the upcoming series, the final scene could mean she is the new Saleswoman.
DID YOU KNOW:Squid Game’screator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, also has a spin-off ideathat would unfold between seasons 1 and 2 and portray “what the recruiters or Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) or officers or masked men were doing in that period.”
Given how Gong Yoo has been among the most mainstream actors inSquid Game’s roster, it would make sense for the US remake to have a renowned actress like Cate Blanchett for The Saleswoman’s role.TheSquid Gamefranchise’s future will remain uncertain until Netflix makes official announcements about what lies ahead. However, even though remakes of highly acclaimed shows can often be tricky, Cate Blanchett’s potential involvement with the spin-off makes it exciting.
“We Are Not Horses. We Are Humans. Humans Are…": Gi-hun’s Last Words Explained
Gi-hun Seemingly Feels Conflicted In His Final Moments
From its early moments,Squid Gamehas used horses as effective metaphors for the players in the titular games.In the show’s opening arc, Gi-hun heavily invests in a horse race, hoping to win big and solve his financial problems for good. However, soon, he becomes no less of a horse when the VIPs bet on him and the other players as he competes to win a race for their entertainment.
“You bet on horses. It’s the same here, but we bet on humans. You’re our horses,” says the Front Man in season 1, reminding Gi-hun how people like him are reduced to mere tools of entertainment by the rich.Like horses, Gi-hun and the players also conform and struggle to perform in the games without considering their rights and autonomy as humans.However, toward the end of the show, Gi-hun uses his last ounce of strength to protest against the game’s organizers and remind them that they are not horses but humans.
In season 1, Gi-hun confidently snapped back against the Front Man and told him: “Listen carefully. I’m not a horse. I’m a person. That’s why I wanna know who you people are… and how you can commit such atrocities against people.” Sadly,after seeing the best and worst of humanity during the games, the character feels conflicted about what he thinks about humans. Therefore, he stops at “humans are…” instead of saying anything more or less.
Who Takes Gi-hun’s Season 1 Winning Prize From The Hotel Room (& Why)
The Front Man Passes It On To Someone Who Deserves It
A mysterious figure breaks into the hotel room where Gi-hun had stored all his prize money from season 1, and Woo-seok struggles to figure out who might have taken it.In the show’s final moments, the Front Man, In-ho, shows up at Gi-hun’s daughter’s home and tells her he knew her father. The daughter seems pissed at her father and claims she wants nothing to do with him. However, her heart melts when In-ho reveals her father has passed away.
He left all of Gi-hun’s wealth to his daughter because he realized it was what Gi-hun would have wanted.
In-ho soon leaves after leaving her with a box full of her father’s belongings. Along with his Squid Game tracksuit,the box includes a small envelope with a debit card, which seems to give the daughter access to Gi-hun’s prize money. This confirms that In-ho took Gi-hun’s money and secured it by storing it in a bank. He left all of Gi-hun’s wealth to his daughter because he realized it was what Gi-hun would have wanted.
Why The Front Man Leaves The Baby With His Brother
He Realizes That Jun-ho Will Give The Baby A Better Life Than He Ever Can
As Jun-ho and In-ho’s backstories suggest, In-ho always deeply cared about his younger half-brother, Jun-ho, and even donated one of his kidneys to him. However, he grew distant from him after his financial struggles and inability to get his sick wife treated forced him to compete at the 28th Squid Game.Squid Gameseason 3 also reveals that to win the games,In-ho had slashed the throats of all his competitors when they were asleep at night.
InSquid Game’s final arc, In-ho realizes that not all humans are as self-serving and cold as the games led him to believe.He understands that even though his circumstances made him lose his sense of morality, there is still some goodness in people like his brother and Gi-hun. Gi-hun’s sacrifice helps him see that humans deserve a second chance and cannot be treated like pawns in a system created by the corrupt elite. Therefore, he decides to send the baby far away from his own skewed world by dropping her off at his brother’s place.
Squid Gamedoes not delve too deep into the Front Man’s life after the games, but he seems concerned when he sees the Cate Blanchett character recruiting new players for a venue in the US.
Realizing that his brother is a good man,he even leaves him with the baby’s prize money.Squid Gamedoes not delve too deep into the Front Man’s life after the games, but he seems concerned when he sees the Cate Blanchett character recruiting new players for a venue in the US. This suggests that, after seeing Gi-hun’s sacrifice, In-ho has realized that the games should not exist.
Will No-eul Reunite With Her Daughter In China?
No-eul’s Future Remains Uncertain
When No-eul goes through the guards' records at the games' venue, she finds a few documents about herself. Her records reveal that her daughter passed away. After learning about her daughter’s fate, No-eul feels broken, but Gi-hun’s sacrifice encourages her to live and return to the outside world. To her surprise,her private detective reveals that he has found someone in China who seemingly matches her daughter’s description.
With newfound hope, No-eul heads to China, believing she might finally reunite with her daughter. The show leaves her story a little open-ended by not revealing whether she meets her daughter again. However, as a viewer, it is hard not to hope that all ends well forPark Gyu-young’sSquid Gamecharacter.
Why Jun-ho Does Not Shoot His Brother, In-ho
He Remembers How His Brother Spared Him
Jun-ho ends up at the games' venue right before In-ho is about to leave with the baby. This gives Jun-ho the perfect opportunity to stop his brother by killing him. However,he still chooses to spare him because his brother did the same in season 1. Despite becoming cold-hearted after competing in the games and eventually organizing them as the Front Man, In-ho seemingly never lost his complicated but deep affection for his half-brother. Jun-ho, too, realizes this, which is why he struggles to pull the trigger inSquid Gameseason 3’s finale.
Which Main Squid Game Characters Are Still Alive After Season 3’s Ending
Only Two Players Make It Out Alive
Among the players, the baby (Player 222) makes it out alive because Gi-hun ensures the child’s safety by sacrificing his own life. Kyung-seok (Player 246) also ends up surviving because No-eul looks out for him. She intentionally shoots him in a non-vital area and pretends to play along with the other guards' human trafficking operation. However, as soon as they take him to the doctor to get his organs removed, she kills the guards and asks the doctor to treat Player 246’s wound.
22
3
Budget
US $21.4 million in season 1 and ₩100 billion in seasons 2 & 3
Streaming On
Netflix
She then blackmails the Officer to arrange a boat for her and Player 246. Although Player 246 nearly gets killed on his way back, Jun-ho and his men rescue him in the nick of time. No-eul does this because she previously met his daughter in the outside world and even learned that she was battling cancer.Realizing that Kyung-seok was only at the games to acquire money for his daughter’s treatment, she empathizes with him and sets out on a mission to reunite him with his daughter. By doing so, she hopes to redeem herself for leaving her child behind in North Korea.
The Real Meaning Of Squid Game’s Entire Story Explained
The Show Presents A Haunting Metaphor For Many Real-World Issues
For a long time, it was hard not to see the Front Man as the show’s main villain. However,Squid Game’s final arc shows how even In-ho was once a desperate player, determined to create a better life for himself and his family. He saw the games as a source of salvation rather than cruelty, but his desperation soon hardened into detachment. Eventually, he lost himself to the overarching system, highlighting how easy it is for one to fall prey to the schemes of the powerful when offered a semblance of control in return for one’s morality and conscience.
While In-ho and many other characters' story beats are cautionary reminders of how one’s moral downfall is rarely sudden and is often driven by a desire to simply survive,Gi-hun’s narrative and his ultimate sacrifice show how one player alone can bring waves of changeand challenge the foundation of a system built on exploitation.
Squid Gamecan also be seen as a play on the illusion of free will that often exists in capitalistic systems. Like the players,individuals are led to believe they are free to shape their own destinies and win a grand cash prize but are held back by inequalities and class divides.
Squid Game
Squid Game is a South Korean series released in 2021 that follows numerous financially struggling participants who are invited to partake in children’s games with deadly outcomes. As they compete, they vie for a substantial cash prize, all while navigating lethal challenges orchestrated by mysterious figures.
