The Creator of ‘Squid Game' Wants the Games to Get Even Worse In the Final Season
Netflix's runaway hit, Squid Game, will soon make its grand return with its third and final season. Ahead of its release, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed the games to come will push Lee Jung-jae's Seong Gi-hun and the surviving players to their absolute limit and send the series out with a bang.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hwang said the show will capitalize on the hopelessness Gi-hun and crew are wallowing in after their failed rebellion by participating in games that will expose the darkest aspects of human nature.
'In the case of season 3, I wanted to introduce games that could really show the lowest bottom of human beings, because the series itself is reaching its climax,' Hwang said. 'I wanted very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature.'
As EW notes, Hwang curated a list of childhood games to refer back to throughout the Emmy-award-winning series. Squid Game season 3 will see even more childhood games with a murderous twist added to them. However, one theme of the games that Hwang wanted to spotlight is reintroducing games where the literal height of them will play a pivotal role in all the stomach-churning anxiety.
'In season 1, we had lots of games like Tug of War that really utilized height and the fear that this height gives, but in the case of season 2, we didn't have that element,' Hwang said. 'That is why in season 3, I decided to introduce games that could infuse fear in people with sheer height.'
While Hwang kept the particulars of what those games Gi-hun will have to endure under wraps, Netflix's dropping the official teaser trailer for the show does give us an inkling of what some of those games might entail. One moment in the trailer shows the players receiving blue and pink balls from a candy machine, denoting a team-based battle that will split the mother-son duo of Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun). Another glimpse of the forthcoming season showed the players walking a maze and Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) preparing to throw hands. Granted, none of these sneak peeks showcased any heights in the game. However, emotions appear to be at an all-time high in the final season when you consider the baby wail at the butt-end of the trailer—all but confirming Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yuri) will give birth at the worst possible time.
As he has stated in the past, Hwang reiterated that Squid Game season 3 will serve as the show's final season. However, speaking with the Hollywood Reporter in January, Hwang did leave the door open to revisit the series through a spin-off, should an opportunity arise.
'The third season will really explore that sense of loss and failure, that guilt weighing so heavily on Gi-hun. How's he going to navigate the story further with all of that weighing down on him? Personally, I see the third season as being the finale to this story,' Hwang told THR. 'That's because I believe I've had closure to the story I wanted to tell about society through the character of Seong Gi-hun. If I ever wanted to go back to the world of Squid Game, it would be about different characters with a different story arc. Some kind of spinoff, maybe.'
In io9's review for Squid Game 2, we walked away liking parts of the show, despite its shorter episode count, more than we disliked, highlighting pivotal moments like the iconic Russian roulette scene, its new cast of memorable characters, and, of course, Thanos. However, parts of the episode season we didn't jive with revolved around the show spending way too much time on boat antics with Jun-ho, it's Empire Strikes Back middle-story syndrome, and the games themselves being just alright.
Hopefully, Hwang will stay true to his word on upping the ante of the deadly children's games with Squid Game Season 3 when it premieres on Netflix on June 27.
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