‘Squid Game' Season 3 trailer drops, teases tragic endgame: Everything to know about the final season of Netflix's biggest show

Yahoo

2 days ago

The game is on.
Squid Game, Netflix's South Korean survival thriller that's the streamer's most-watched series in any language, returns for its third and final season on June 27. In preparation, Netflix released the first trailer for Season 3 as part of its Tudum 2025 live event. The trailer finds Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae), returning to the game after his rebellion has been snuffed out and he was captured by the Front Man. The two-minute clip (below) shows 456 discovering that the Front Man's identity and teases the next rounds of deadly contests as the players and their captors hurtle towards a tragic endgame.
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Speaking to Gold Derby ahead of the trailer launch, Emmy-winning creator told us what was in store for Season 3. "It's going to be a mixture of everything. You can imagine that it's going to be more brutal, more violent. It's going to be darker, even funnier.
"I mean, if I have to pick one season out of all three, my favorite, the best season is going to be Season 3."
Here's what you need to remember about Squid Game as you head into the final round.
Season 2 picks up two years after the events of Season 1. Gi-hun, the game's only survivor, took home $45.6 billion Korean won, but was haunted and traumatized by his experience, and vowed to go back and end the operation, which preys on people's financial desperation, once and for all. After a lot of searching, Gi-hun gets in contact with the masked Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) who runs the game, who agrees to let him join the next game as a player. Gi-hun (Player 456) wakes up back in the dorm with 455 other players.
What Gi-hun doesn't know is that the Front Man is really Hwang In-ho, the brother of detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who has been investigating the game since Season 1 and linked up with Gi-hun as they searched for the secret island where the game takes place. In-ho joins the game as Player 001, saying his name is Oh Young-il, and manipulates the game from the inside. This time, the players take a vote at the end of each round as to whether they want to end the game and walk away with a share of the prize money and their lives, or keep going until there's just one winner. Gi-hun tries to convince people to walk away, but the game goes on.
Things reach a turning point when players realize that murder is allowed in the game, and some ruthless competitors start massacring their rivals. In the pandemonium, Gi-hun and his allies stage a rebellion against the masked, pink-clad guards who control the game, which ends with Gi-hun and his best friend, Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), captured. In-ho fakes his in-game death and puts his Front Man mask back on, and executes Jung-bae in front of Gi-hun. The Front Man is trying to crush Gi-hun's spirit and get him to abandon all hope of stopping the game. And the game is still only halfway through.
Meanwhile, Jun-ho continues to search for the island with the help of Captain Park (Oh Dal-su), a fisherman who saved him when he fell in the water at the end of Season 1. But little does he know, Captain Park is a traitor, and is secretly working to sabotage the search party.
And then there's No-eul (Park Gyu-young), a guard who is at odds with other, corrupt guards who are harvesting organs from players to sell on the black market. No-eul, who has fled North Korea and will do anything for her daughter, mercy-kills players before they can be harvested, and the corrupt guards intimidate her into stopping — for now. If there's anyone on the inside who might end up helping Gi-hun, it's her.
In Season 2, Gi-hun was unable to stop the game through persuasion or force, so he'll have to find another method. The sinister VIPs, who appeared in Season 1 to watch the game for their own sick pleasure, will return.
Here's the official synopsis: "A failed rebellion, the death of a friend, and a secret betrayal. Picking up in the aftermath of Season 2's bloody cliffhanger, the third and final season of Netflix's most popular series finds Gi-hun at his lowest point yet. But the Squid Game stops for no one, so Gi-hun will be forced to make some important choices in the face of overwhelming despair as he and the surviving players are thrust into deadlier games that test everyone's resolve. With each round, their choices lead to increasingly grave consequences. Meanwhile, In-ho resumes his role as Front Man to welcome the mysterious VIPs, and his brother Jun-ho continues his search for the elusive island, unaware there's a traitor in their midst. Will Gi-hun make the right decisions, or will Front Man finally break his spirit?"
Like the previous two seasons, Season 3 is written and directed by Hwang. Seasons 2 and 3 were shot concurrently, which is what allows Season 3 to come so soon after Season 2, which premiered in December 2024.
All six episodes will be available beginning June 27.
As of now, director Hwang has no plans for more of this incarnation of Squid Game. But Netflix is reportedly developing an English-language Squid Game series with Academy Award-winning director David Fincher, and a second season of reality competition series Squid Game: The Challenge is also in the works.
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