David Farnor | On 03, Aug 2024

Squid Game will return for a third season, Netflix has announced, but the games will be drawing to a close in 2025, with the third chapter also being the show’s last.

The Korean satirical thriller first debuted back in September 2021 and imagined a world where 456 desperate contestants compete with each other in a mysterious and deadly survival game involving multiple rounds of games. The prize? 45.6 billion won (just shy of £30 million), which would pull them out of their misery. Every game they face is a traditional children’s game such as Red Light, Green Light (policed by the unnerving oversized doll Young-hee), but the consequence of losing is death.

The result was Netflix’s biggest show of all time, with 111 million accounts streaming it in its first 28 days on the platform.

“This darkly entertaining satire of social inequality is a gripping, pointed ride,” we wrote in our review.

The show was eventually renewed for a second chapter, which will once again follow down-on-his-luck dad Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), Season 1’s main character and Player 456 within the game. He remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. He starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organisation proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.

He will return along with Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), the leader of the masked staff behind the game, and Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun), a detective who sneaks into the game in search of his brother. Before that sophomore chapter has even arrived, though, Netflix has already renewed the show for Season 3.

The show’s director, writer, and executive producer, Hwang Dong-hyuk, said: “I am beyond excited to be writing this letter to announce the date for Season 2 and share the news of Season 3, the final season. The fierce clash between two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year.”

“I am thrilled to see the seed that was planted in creating a new Squid Game grow and bear fruit the end of this story,” he added. “We’ll do our best to make sure we bring you yet another thrill ride.”

Season 2 will premiere on 26th December this year, with Season 3 expected to arrive next year.

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