Netflix‘s second season of Squid Game follows past winner Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) vengeful return to the games as Player 456. His goal this time around isn’t to win the enormous cash prize, but to end Squid Game once and for all.
**Spoilers for Squid Game Season 2, now streaming on Netflix**
Over the course of Squid Game Season 2’s seven episodes, we watch as Gi-hun steps up to play the hero. He tracks down the mysterious “Recruiter” played by Gong Yoo and survives a heady game of Russian roulette against the games’ cynical true believer. Gi-hun then teams up with Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Hajoon), who has spent the last few years since Season 1 searching for the secret island that hosts the games (and his long-lost brother, In-ho, who is now the Front Man played by Lee Byung-hun). When Gi-hun finds himself volunteering to play the games again, he does so with the hope of not only leading Jun-ho to the island, but also to save as many lives as possible. He takes it upon himself to lead his fellow players through the perilous danger of “Red Light, Green Light” and implores the group to vote for their freedom over more games.
However, when it ultimately becomes obvious that the only way out of the games is to fight the mysterious game masters themselves, Gi-hun organizes a rebellion. Childhood best friend Park Jung-bae, aka Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), joins in, as do new allies like transgender woman Hyun-ju, Player 120 (Park Sung-soon), former marine Dae-ho, Player 388 (Kang Ha-neul), and “Oh Young-il,” Player 001, whom the audience knows is secretly the Front Man himself.
So does Gi-hun survive Squid Game Season 2? Do the games kill him? Will Player 456 return for Squid Game Season 3? Will there even be a Squid Game Season 3? And what’s the deal with that creepy post credits scene? Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of Squid Game Season 2…
Squid Game Season 2 Ending Explained: Does Gi-hun (Player 456) Die?
Watching Squid Game Season 2 in the utter terror that our boy Gi-hun might die? Don’t worry, Gi-hun survives Squid Game Season 2! But he might wishes he hadn’t…
Squid Game Season 2 introduces a new wrinkle to the games wherein players get to vote after each round whether or not they want to stay or leave, splitting what exists of the cash prize. After three games, the surviving players are split equally between staying and leaving. That is when the situation becomes all the more dire. Having survived the games before, Gi-hun knows that waiting overnight for a revote is the game masters’ plan to have the players turn on each other…and they do.
First, there’s a bloody brawl in the men’s restroom, which sees crypto bro Lee Myung-gi, Player 333 (Yim Si-wan), stabbing the rapper Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun) with a fork snuck into his dinner. Player 333 survives the chaos by hiding in a stall, but Nam-gyu, Player 124 (Roh Jae-won), gets his fork. When the bloodied up survivors shuffle back into the dorms, two things become obvious. One, the nay votes — i.e. the people who want out — now outweigh the players who want to stay. The other? As soon as the lights go out, Nam-gyu and his camp will murder as many of the “no” votes to stay in the game.
Gi-hun convinces his core group of allies that they should use the grisly massacre strategically. He knows that eventually the lights will come back on and the pink-suited guards will suppress any more violence. By hiding during the chaos and playing possum, they can overwhelm the guards and steal their guns. Gi-hun, Jung-bae, Hyung-ju, Dae-ho, and “Young-il” succeed and are soon joined by other men willing to fight back for their freedom.
What follows is a surprisingly effective rebellion, with our heroes shooting their way through Squid Game‘s Pepto Bismal pink sets until reaching a stand off with other guards. The group splits, with Gi-hun and Jung-bae using a guard’s mask to move closer and closer to the control room, while the rest of the group covers them. When it’s obvious that our rebels are running out of ammo, Dae-ho volunteers to circle back and gather magazines from the dead guards in the dorm.
As Gi-hun and Jung-bae get closer, the shooting gets more intense. Dae-ho gets to the dorms and gathers the ammo, but his nerves overtake him. He doesn’t return to his friends. That sends Hyung-ju back to the dorms as the Front Man moves forward to meet up with Gi-hun and Jung-bae. Naturally, the Front Man turns on his “friends,” leading the guards to suppress the rebellion. The rebellious players left standing either take their own lives or beg mercy before being shot. Hyung-ju is back in the dormitory as the guards come in and the maternal Player 149 (Kang Ae-shim) advises her to stand down.
Back, closer to the control room, the Front Man mocks Gi-hun for trying to “play the hero” before showing him what that nobility gets him. The Front Man shoots Jung-bae in the head. Gi-hun is left alive…but why? For what purpose would the powers that be keep him alive?
Squid Game Season 2: What Does That Post Credits Scene Mean? Meet Young-hee’s Boyfriend Cheol-su
If you stuck around after the devastating end of Squid Game Season 2, you would have gotten a sneak peek of what’s yet to come! After the initial credits roll, we watch some of the surviving players enter a new arena. Young-hee, the massive, murderous doll who oversees “Red Light, Green Light” is back — but she’s not alone. She’s looking across the room at a boy.
“That’s actually a [sneak peek] of Cheol-su, who, like Young-hee, is a new giant doll that we’re going to be showcasing in Season 3,” Squid Game creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Entertainment Weekly.
Hwang first teased Cheol-su’s appearance around the time the second season of Squid Game was first announced, referring to him as Young-hee’s boyfriend. In fact, both characters originate from classic Korean textbooks.
While it’s unclear what game the dolls will be presiding over — although it appears railroad-themed — Hwang told Entertainment Weekly this end credits scene is a “a hint at the most exciting game in Season 3.”
Will There Be a Squid Game Season 3? Why Does Squid Game Season 2 End on a Cliffhanger?
Yes, there will be! Netflix has already confirmed that Squid Game will return in 2025 for its third and final season.
However, you might be wondering why Season 2 was so short — seven episodes compared to Season 1’s nine — and why it ended on such a bummer of a cliffhanger. During a virtual roundtable Decider attended, series creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk told CinemaBlend’s Alexandra Ramos that originally Season 2 and Season 3 were “originally envisioned…as a single series.”
“Then as I wrote the story along, it became to be too many episodes and too long of a story,” Hwang said. “You see Gi-hun’s journey where he returns to the game, but also he goes through a revolt. That is actually the climax of that storyline where he tries to create an uprising, but then that all goes to failure. And I also saw that aspect of it as yet another game as well.”
The auteur explained that he thought it made sense to divide it into two seasons, with Season 2 focusing on one major arc for Gi-hun. “You know, Gi-hun’s revolt going into a failure, him ending up losing his best friend…I thought that would just be the right adequate moment to rest and have it continue on in the further season.”
Hwang teased that Gi-hun’s “immense sense of guilt” will fuel his journey in Season 3. “You’re going to get yet another character arc from Gi-hun,” he said, “and so I thought it would be better to divide that for another season.”
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