Squid Game season three pushed both its characters and its actors to the absolute edge. The games were darker, the betrayals cut deeper, and the emotional damage was off the charts. With each episode, the new challenges brought some of the most intense, gut-wrenching moments the show has ever delivered.
But all that tension didn’t stay on screen. Behind the scenes, the pressure was just as real. Elaborate stunts, emotionally draining scenes, and the sheer scale of the production pushed even the most seasoned cast members far beyond their comfort zones.
And for Lee Jung-jae, who plays the now-iconic Seong Gi-hun, one particular scene proved to be the hardest of them all.
So, which scene was the hardest to film in Squid Game?
Gi-hun via Netflix
“It was that very last scene, that final moment of Gi-hun,” Lee revealed while talking to Variety. While people were likely devastated watching it unfold, few would guess just how much it took out of him to bring that moment to life.
“I had been on a very strict diet for about 14 months leading up to that point,” he explained. “Especially for the last two months, I was on an extremely harsh diet compared to before we shot the series.” In total, Lee lost nearly 10 kilograms from his regular weight, just to portray the physical state of a man who had lost everything.
“I really wanted to make sure that not only did I express Gi-hun’s emotions, but I also wanted the audience to know just how completely dry and depleted he was just by looking at him.”
Filming the scene was just as demanding. “We had to shoot that last moment for a very long time,” Lee said. “It actually took much longer than you might expect. It took a lot longer than you might expect on that filming day. That was the only scene we were able to shoot, so it was extremely important and also very challenging.”
Interestingly, Lee’s performance mirrors the emotional struggle the show’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, faced when writing Gi-hun’s arc. Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter, “The biggest challenge was how far I wanted to throw Gi-hun down the pit, and then from where to make him rise again.”
Squid Game is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.
