'Squid Game' creator Hwang Dong-hyuk says he considered a happy ending for Season 3
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Squid Game Season 3.
The creator of Netflix's Squid Game said he considered a different ending—one that can be considered a happy one—for its third and final season.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hwang Dong-hyuk said that while he was writing the first draft of seasons two and three, which were shot back-to-back, he revised the scripts constantly as he went along.
In the Season 3 finale Humans Are..., the Front Man (Lee Byung Hun) flew to Los Angeles to visit the daughter of Seong Gi-hun or Player 456 (Lee Jung Hae), who had sacrificed himself in the final game Sky Squid Game to spare the baby of Kim Jun-hee or Player 222 (Jo Yu-ri). The baby took over as Player 222 after Jun-hee jumped to her death during the previous Jump Rope game because of her broken ankle that would have likely prevented her from going further.
The Front Man gave Gi-hun's daughter a package containing his Player 456 jacket and the gold card containing the rest of the 45.6 billion Korean won (P2 billion) that Gi-hun had won during Season 1.
The episode ends with the Front Man, riding his black SUV, spotting a mysterious, well-dressed stranger: a Recruiter like Season 1 and 2's, portrayed by Gong Yoo. This time around, it's a woman (who turns out to be Cate Blanchett) playing ddakji with a distressed man. The Front Man and the new Recruiter would lock eyes with each other before his ride leaves and she slaps her mark, with the screen cutting to black.
Hwang said that when he "was just vaguely thinking about seasons two and three, I thought of an ending where Gi-hun makes it out of the games alive and goes to see his daughter in the US."
"So it was kind of a happy ending," he said. "But once I actually started writing, I got to thinking more and more about what it is that I wanted to say through this show. What kind of message should I be sending to the world? And that’s when I felt the current ending would be more appropriate."
Hwang said he felt the world "had gotten even worse" compared to when he was working on Season 1.
"Economic inequality was getting worse; there were no real solutions being offered for the climate crisis; the threat of war was growing in various parts of the world; and the number of vulnerable people falling outside the social safety net was increasing," he said. "It felt like the younger generations were losing more and more hope for the future."
As "part of the older generation," he thought that "in order to leave a better world for future generations, it was time for us to put a halt to our incessant greed and selfishness—at least to some extent."
"I felt it was time for us to make sacrifices and start thinking seriously about how we can create a better future," he said.
That's why Hwang incorporated Player 222's baby in the story, saying she symbolizes hope and the future generation.
With Gi-hun sacrificing himself for the baby, he noted that it conveys the idea of the older generation giving the future generation a better world.
"I felt that was the most suitable ending for this show," he said.
Hwang also shared having a "vague idea" that Gi-hun and a few other characters, "maybe including the baby as well," survive the games and leave the island.
He also imagined the detective Jun-ho (Lee Jun-ho) and the police "arriving at the right time during the final game and, instead of Gi-hun ending the game on his own, he’d do it with the help of others."
Hwang noted that it was one of the two endings he had in mind.
"I don’t think I seriously contemplated any other alternate ending," he added.
On American spin-off rumors
Hwang also dismissed speculations that the series finale in Los Angeles was to create the rumored Squid Game American spin-off by David Fincher.
"As for the last scene, while the games in Korea have ended with the destruction of the game arena as a result of Gi-hun sacrificing himself, I wanted to highlight that the system isn’t easily dismantled—it doesn’t simply collapse just because one part of it is destroyed," he said.
"I wanted to convey that in this late capitalist society, the system remains strong, deeply entrenched, and powerful—and that these kinds of games are still continuing in the US," he added.
However, Hwang said in an interview with Variety that the scene featuring a recruiter in LA still 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.”
Squid Game follows the story of 456 individuals buried in financial debt, playing a series of thrilling, deadly games. Only one winner would bring home the jackpot prize of 45.6 billion Korean won.
In Season 1, Gi-hun emerged as the winner after defeating his childhood friend Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) in the final round.
In Season 2, Gi-hun joined the deadly games again in a bid to save other players from harm. Toward the end, he recruited other players to revolt against the authorities—only to fail.
Season 3, which premiered on June 27 picked up where Season 2 left off. Gi-hun became a shell of his former self following their failed revolution and the Front Man's brutal murder of his best friend Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) in front of him. Gi-hun would eventually pick up the pieces after Jun-hee's childbirth, and after Jang Geum-ja or Player 149 (Kang Ae-shim) killed herself after pleading with him to help Jun-hee in the remaining games.
Jang killed herself as she was forced to stab her son, Park Yong-sik or Player 007 (Yang Dong-geun), in the Hide and Seek game for trying to kill Jun-hee. (The game requires taggers like him to kill at least one hider like Park and Jun-hee; he couldn't kill his mother, so he opted for Jun-hee. Unsuccessful, the guards finish him off at the end of the round.)
