The final season of Netflix’s Squid Game has delivered a brutal conclusion to the global phenomenon that captivated nearly 600 million viewers worldwide. Season 3, which premiered Friday with six episodes, brings the Korean dystopian drama to a devastating end that reinforces the series’ central critique of capitalism and human nature.
The season picks up immediately after Season 2’s failed rebellion, following Seong Gi-hun as he returns to the deadly games with the goal of ending them once and for all, continuing the story from Season 2’s stakes-raising but flawed continuation. However, his mission takes a tragic turn as the games become increasingly violent and psychologically damaging. The final episodes showcase the most brutal challenges yet, including a deadly knife-and-key game and a terrifying jump rope challenge across narrow walkways.
In the series’s most powerful moment, Gi-hun faces an impossible choice in the final round. Standing on a tower with a newborn baby, he must decide whether to kill the infant to survive or sacrifice himself. In his final act, Gi-hun looks directly at the camera and declares, “We are not horses. We are humans,” before choosing to die so the baby can live. This moment serves as the series’ ultimate statement about human dignity and moral choice.
Main character deaths reshape the story’s conclusion
The final season eliminates most of its main characters in shocking fashion. Trans woman Hyun-ju dies protecting a pregnant contestant and her newborn baby. Geum-ja kills her own son to protect another player, then takes her own life from guilt. Jun-hee, the new mother, chooses to jump to her death rather than slow down Gi-hun’s escape with her baby.
Gi-hun himself undergoes a dark transformation, killing former marine Dae-ho out of revenge for the failed rebellion. His character arc shows how even good people can be corrupted by the system’s violence, yet he ultimately chooses humanity over survival.
Bruh the creator of Squid Game himself literally said that there's no happy ending in the series finale and yet everyone is canceling the show because it's not the ending they want or thought it would be. #SquidGame #SquidGameS3
— Chris2.0 (SKIP LEGGERDAY FAN)#BringBackRumbleverse (@ChrisChiu364503) June 27, 2025
The Front Man, revealed to be Player 001 from Season 2, finally shows his true identity to Gi-hun. He offers Gi-hun a knife and suggests killing the remaining contestants in their sleep, revealing this is how he won his own game years earlier. The Front Man’s actions throughout the series represent how the system corrupts even its victims into becoming perpetrators.
Baby becomes unlikely winner as system continues
In an unprecedented twist, a newborn baby becomes Player 222 and wins the entire game after Gi-hun’s sacrifice. Six months later, the baby is delivered to Jun-ho, the detective who spent the series searching for his brother, the Front Man. The baby also receives Gi-hun’s massive winnings, though the exact amount is not specified.
The series ends with clear hints that the games will continue in other countries. A final scene shows the Front Man in Los Angeles, where he encounters a recruiter played by Cate Blanchett. This scene suggests a planned American version of the games, indicating the corrupt system spreads globally rather than ending.
Detective No-eul survives and plays a crucial role in the game’s exposure to authorities. Her decision to save Player 246 leads to the Korean Coast Guard discovering the island’s location. The series concludes with her traveling to China to search for her daughter, offering one of the few hopeful storylines in the brutal finale.
Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk chose to end the series with the episode title ‘Humans are…’, leaving the statement incomplete, demonstrating the careful storytelling approach that led to fans getting surprisingly close to solving the series’ final mystery. This open ending reflects the show’s central theme that humans are capable of both terrible cruelty and incredible compassion, depending on the systems that shape their choices.
