Contains spoilers for season three of 'Squid Game'
It's the beginning of the end for player 456 in Squid Game's third and final season, which has finally premiered on Netflix. But will Lee Jung-jae's Gi-hun succeed in his mission to destroy the deadly Games?
The character, who has entered the deadly competition once again as player 456 on a mission to tear down the deadly games from the inside-out, has found himself is in peril after his childhood friend died in season two as part of a failed coup. So, can he do it?
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The third outing of the hit Korean drama tests player player 456 to his limits even more as the games continue and he is forced to reckon with his own failings as well as the selfishness of those around him. Confronted with the pressure and purpose of helping protect player 222's baby in the Games, he finds that he has purpose again, but where will that new path take him? And will he succeed in destroying the Games for good? Here is everything that you need to know about the ending of Squid Game season three.
Does Player 456 Gi-hun die in Squid Game season 3?
In season three, the last surviving players embark on the final game of the show, which is played on top of three towers. In a true test of their humanity, in the game, players must kill at least one of their competitors by getting them off the tower within 15 minutes to pass onto the next round. They can kill more than one person if they wish, so long as one player is eliminated in each round. There are eight players left in total at the end of the game, including Gi-hun, Jun-hee's newborn baby who has been made the new player 222, and the child's father Myung-gi.
Myung-gi teams up with the other five players who are essentially in agreement over who should be killed: Gi-hyun, Jun-hee's baby and Min-su (Lee David), the latter of whom is currently in the midst of a mental breakdown because of his experiences during the games and the drugs he has taken that were hidden in pop star Thanos' pendant necklace.
Gi-Hun, meanwhile, is confronted with the reality of his promising Jun-hee that he would protect her baby before she died, and he is steadfast in that commitment. In true Squid Game fashion, however, the other players are equally as determined to convince him to sacrifice the baby and let her die.
The baby's father, Myung-gi, faces an impossible predicament: either he sides against Gi-hun and his own child, or he joins forces with them. We eventually learn that he has no intention of siding with the others and he helps Gi-hun to pick them all off. The only problem is that he reveals this too early, and the other five players all die during the second stage of the three-part game. What does this mean exactly? That either Gi-hun, Myung-gi or Jun-hee's baby must die in the final round for one or two of them to win the games. Otherwise they all die.
Once we reach the finale, we see Myung-gi and Gi-Hun go up against each other to become custodians of the baby, with the idea being that Myung-gi is trying to win the games by forcing Gi-hun to give him the baby and not make it across to the next round, so that he can kill his own child in order to win the games. He threatens Gi-hun, who allows Myung-gi to think he's won by giving him the baby but in the last minute runs across and makes it to the other side with a knife.
When the two men fight — Gi-hun with a knife and Myung-gi with a pole — they ultimately both end up perilously dangling over the edge of the tower. Myung-gi ultimately falls to his death — the only problem being is that neither of them pressed the button to start the game before they began fighting. Gi-hun then slams his hand on the button but rather than kill the baby like he is expected to by the VIPs, he sacrifices himself so that Jun-hee's baby can live, and she is declared the winner of the games.
How does Squid Game season 3 end?
Once the series favourite, Gi-hun eventually dies, the Frontman aka In-ho (Lee Byung-hun) starts the evacuation order of the island and begins preparing to end the games for that year, but his brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) and rogue Pink Guard No-eul (Park Gyu-young) are ready to stop them.
As Frontman takes Jun-hee's baby Jun-ho confronts him, but ultimately can't kill him, giving him room to escape. The island is destroyed and the police unable to catch the perpetrators, while No-eul sneaks into the boat leaving the island with the other staff members.
The third series then jumps to six months later, where we see No-eul visiting with the player she helped to escape while Jun-ho is revealed to have left the police. He returns home one day to find Jun-hee's baby in his home, with a bank card that contains all of her winnings.
In-ho promptly then visits Gi-hun's family in America and gives them his belongings, informing them that he has died. The box contains his Player 456 hoodie and a bank card that contains his winnings from the first game, yet it is then revealed that the games are continuing, and in America contestants are being sourced by Cate Blanchett, who makes a cameo as the US equivalent of the Ddakji Man.
What do the cast of Squid Game think of the show's ending?
Speaking at a press conference in London, the series' creator Hwang Dong-hyuk shared his reservations about the ending he'd concocted for the Squid Game universe, but those doubts were superseded by the praise steeped on the writer/director.
'I thought that director Huang's decision that he had made... he was very determined,' Lee Jung-jae said. 'I'm sure that he went through a lot of internal debate and struggles because, as we all know, this series has been just hugely successful. So when it's a story that big, how do you bring that to a close as director, writer and creator? And especially for a character like Gi-hun, where do you take him?
'And so I know that he listened to a lot of other people's ideas as well, we would have discussions among ourselves, among the cast. He would also discuss it with me and the crew as well, but I believe that director Hwang came up with the most adequate, the most unpredictable, the most meaningful and the most intriguing and entertaining ending possible.
'So personally, I am very happy with the finale and you all are going to be able to see where it all ends soon. But I can guarantee you it's not going to be what you think.'
Squid Game season three is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
