Squid Game is back online.
Following the devastating events of season two, the third and final season of Netflix’s global sensation created by Hwang Dong-hyuk returns viewers to the games on June 27, dropping all episodes on Netflix. An episode count has not yet been announced, though six has been reported.
The final season teaser trailer (below) for the Korean drama shows protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), aka Player 456, being returned to the players’ quarters in the recognizable Squid Game coffin. Fortunately, he’s alive when his friends open the coffin. Unfortunately, their rebellion has failed and the games are back on for the final episodes of the series.
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Season two ended on the major cliffhanger of the games being incomplete after a failed rebellion and Gi-hun and his subordinates once again being held captive to the rules of the game. The new footage, however, shows that the outside mission to infiltrate the headquarters continues.
Per Netflix, season three “thrusts Gi-hun (Player 456) back into the brutal heart of the games, determined to dismantle them once and for all. Still haunted by the betrayal and loss of his closest ally, Jung-bae (Player 390), Gi-hun faces new perils — including the Front Man, who shockingly infiltrated their rebellion disguised as Player 001.”
The trailer also shows Gi-hun and his fellow survivors playing a new game where a massive gumball machine dispenses red and blue balls, representing the fates that will determine the next challenge — season two introduced the players voting to continue after each round, represented by red Xs and blue Os. The final moments of the footage echo with the mysterious cries of a baby, as Netflix teases: “Gi-hun persists with his goal to put an end to the game, while the Front Man continues onto his next move and the surviving players’ choices will lead to graver consequences with each round.”
Familiar faces return for season three: The Front Man, detective Hwang Jun-ho, and players Myung-gi (Player 333), Dae-ho (Player 388), Hyun-ju (Player 120), Yong-sik (Player 007), Geum-ja (Player 149), Jun-hee (Player 222), Min-su (Player 125), Nam-gyu (Player 124) and the pink guard No-eul.
Season two of Netflix’s smash-hit South Korean thriller dropped on Dec. 26 to record-setting viewership in its premiere week, beating Squid Game‘s first season which is Netflix’s most viewed TV show of all time.
After winning the Squid Games in season one, Gi-hun was determined to get back into the games to dismantle them from the inside. The seven-episode second season explored Gi-hun’s effort to do so, culminating in a finale where he found himself thwarted by Front Man, the enigmatic game leader played by Lee Byung-hun who was revealed to the audience — but not yet to Gi-hun — to be Player 001. Front Man executed Gi-hun’s best friend, Player 290 Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), as a warning about the consequences of his rebellion.
The third season concludes the story from Hwang, though the creator has shared several ideas about where he could spin off the franchise, which has already spawned reality series Squid Game: The Challenge and Squid Game: The Experience, a touring activation where fans can play games like the multiplayer video game Squid Game: Unleashed.
Among the ideas for a series spinoff, Hwang has suggested telling the backstories of other characters, or even exploring the lost time between seasons one and two for returning characters Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) and/or Recruiter (Gong Yoo), the latter who died early on in season two.
Produced by Firstman Studio, executive producers include Hwang and Kim Ji-yeon.
Head here for more on what to expect from season three and see some new first-look photos from season three, below.
