Will there be a 'Squid Game' US spinoff? Here's what series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk says
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Squid Game season 3.
The third season of Squid Game hit Netflix on June 27, and as series creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk previously confirmed, the K-drama won't be returning for season 4.
The series picks up in the wake of a failed revolution, with Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and the rest of the players continuing to play in the notorious games. In the final Sky Squid Game—where players must push off one participant off the structure to win—Gi-hun and Jun-hee/Player 222's (Jo Yu-ri) baby are left as contenders for the 4.56 billion won grand prize. Gi-hun, who spent the previous games, sacrifices himself and dies, leaving the infant the winner.
In a surprising show of humanity, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) flies to Los Angeles to give Gi-hun's daughter the money Player 456 left behind. As he leaves, the Front Man sees a mysterious, well-dressed stranger (who turns out to be Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett) playing ddakji against a distressed man. This leaves questions of whether there's also a similar deadly game in the US.
While the book has closed on Gi-hun's story, Hwang said in an interview with Variety that this scene featuring a recruiter in LA leaves the door open for potential spinoffs.
"I guess you could say that in a way, because when you watch the finale, while it has a true closure, I think you can still feel a sense of some kind of longing or lingering,” he said. “So I think, maybe, someday, if the opportunity allows and the timing is right, maybe there’s room for other stories.”
In October 2024, Deadline reported that David Fincher (Gone Girl, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) will be developing a new English-language Squid Game. Netflix has yet to confirm this, as of writing.
In another interview with Forbes, Hwang said that a spinoff could be made about the backstory of different characters, "but it's just something that I'm tossing around—nothing has been decided yet."
For his part, Lee Byung-hun found that the final scene is "truly an ending that fits the [show's] name."
"Personally, I interpret it as, despite all of the noble efforts of so many people, the world still continues as it was before,” he said, as per Netflix's Tudum.
Squid Game, first premiered in 2021, followed the lives of down-on-their luck people who join games to win a big cash prize. But little do they know, losing the seemingly innocent children's games costs their lives.
The first season of the show is the most viewed show on Netflix with over 265.2 million views.
Squid Game season 3 stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-shim, Jo Yu-ri, Lee David, and Roh Jae-won.