Warning: major spoilers ahead for Squid Game season 3.
Squid Game season 3 has finally dropped in its entirety on Netflix – and we’re going to need a minute to pick our jaws up from the floor.
The release date for the third season came just six months after the second, so viewers haven’t had to wait long to find out what became of Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae) after he failed to carry out a rebellion against the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun).
Not only does the final season reveal his fate, but it also features a mind-blowing cameo that’s going to leave fans screaming at the top of their lungs.
Let’s unpack that ending, the arrival of a bona fide Hollywood legend and what it could mean for the future of this sadistic but gripping TV universe.
Get personalised updates on all things Netflix
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
What happens in Squid Game season 3? Ending explained
At the end of Squid Game season three, the show flashes forward to six months after the latest game has ended… and reveals a major, shocking cameo in the final moments.
The Front Man is in Los Angeles, paying a visit to Gi-hun’s daughter, who lives in the US with her mother.
The young girl is initially angry about being visited by someone who knows her father, as her dad hasn’t spoken to her in years, but she’s left shocked when she’s then informed by the Front Man that Gi-hun has died and that he has come to deliver his belongings.
When he leaves in his car, she opens the box that she was given to discover Gi-hun’s bloodied Squid Game uniform, as well as a gold credit card in a little black envelope, presumably linked to the extraordinary amount of money that he previously won in the game.
The Front Man drives into the city, and as his car pauses, he opens the window and looks out at a couple of people playing the game ddakji on the street.
Rather than it being the Recruiter (Gong Yoo), who died in season two, it’s a woman leading the game, playing against a man who looks as though he could be homeless. Whenever he loses a round, she slaps him in the face, just like how the Recruiter used to do.
As the woman turns to look at the Front Man, it’s revealed that she’s played by none other than Hollywood legend Cate Blanchett. When her identity was revealed, our jaws were literally on the ground.
What could Cate Blanchett’s cameo mean?
The arrival of Cate in Squid Game, after her appearance was loosely rumoured in the past, feels like a game-changing moment for the franchise.
On one hand, this might be a one-off cameo, allowing fans to let their imaginations wander as they consider how Squid Game might have expanded in the US (or already been operating).
On the other hand, perhaps this could result in a Squid Game spin-off that focuses on the American faction of the competition?
The creator Hwang Dong-hyuk previously spoke about developing a spin-off series and expanding the universe of Squid Game, telling Metro that he was keen on exploring the three-year gap between seasons one and two, which would reveal more about the Front Man, the Recruiter and Captain Park (Oh Dal-su).
However, he did say that the idea wasn’t set in stone yet… and maybe a spin-off with Cate as the new Recruiter could also be in the pipeline. We wouldn’t put it past him!
Which characters survive the series by the final episode?
As with any season of Squid Game, there are plenty of devastating fatalities by the end of the final season.
Most notably – this is sadly the end of the protagonist, Gi-hun.
In the final game, the version of Squid Game where the remaining players are placed on huge pillars and forced to push others off the edge to survive, Gi-hun winds up one of the final players along with crypto influencer Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan) and the baby that Myung-gi had with the deceased Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri).
After getting into a brutal fight, watched by the ghoulish VIPs from their luxury box, Myung-gi falls to his death, while Gi-hun climbs back onto the pillar and picks the baby girl back up who he swore to protect.
Forced to decide between saving his own life or the baby’s – a choice that we audience members know is obvious – Gi-hun puts the baby down on the ground safely away from the edge and then declares that the players are human beings, not horses. He then leans backwards and falls to his death, resulting in the newborn being named the winner.
After finding out that the coast guard is close to the island, the Front Man sets off a self-destruct button with a 30-minute timer and orders all of the guards to evacuate. When he goes to get the baby from the pillar, he’s confronted by his brother, police detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon).
The Front Man and the guards escape, while Jun-ho makes it off the island alive. Pink Guard Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), who almost took her own life, also decides to flee and survive.
Six months later, No-eul reunites with Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook), the player whom she helped escape the game so that he could return to his severely ill daughter. Now, his daughter is in better health, and Gyeong-seok still has no idea of the identity of the guard who saved his life.
So, the only two players to survive from this latest iteration of the game were the baby and Gyeong-seok.
No-eul is told that her daughter, whom she lost contact with after she defected from North Korea, is possibly alive in China, and so she makes her way there in the hope of a reunion.
While Gi-hun’s daughter is given a credit card with access to his prize money, former police detective Jun-ho is also in for a surprise when he goes home one day to find Jun-hee’s now six-month-old baby on his bed.
The baby has been left with a credit card that has access to the 46.5billion won prize money that the little girl is entitled to.
Even though it appeared as though the Front Man wanted nothing to do with his brother, going so far as to tell Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) to kill him if it prevented him from finding the island, he does still seem to be looking out for him in his own twisted way.
Squid Game is available to stream on Netflix.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
