‘Squid Game' star admits he's ‘very nervous' for fan reaction to final season
The games are coming to an end.
'Squid Game' star Lee Jung-jae teased the third and final season of the show at Netflix's Tudum event in California on Saturday.
'We are going to be releasing quite soon, I am very nervous,' Lee, 52, told The Hollywood Reporter via a translator.
8 Park Hae-soo, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-yeon in 'Squid Game.'
AP
'I know that a lot of you out there are curious about what's going to happen in season three, but all of us are more curious about how much you're going to enjoy it,' the actor continued. 'So I can't wait, I'm very nervous.'
Lee Byung-hun, who plays game leader Front Man, told THR at Tudum that he's similarly anxiously awaiting the fan response to Season 3.
8 Lee Jung-jae attends Netflix Tudum 2025 on May 31.
Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / SplashNews.com
8 Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun speak onstage at Netflix Tudum 2025.
Getty Images for Netflix
'I'm happy with how it ended but I know that the fans out there, they each have what they want to see happen, so I really am curious about how they're going to respond to it,' he said. 'And I'm very nervous to find out.'
The final season of Netflix's Korean smash hit series premieres June 27.
'Squid Game' Season 2, which saw Lee's Seong Gi-hun reenter the brutal series of games that he won, came out in December and became Nielsen's most-watched series of the 2024-25 season.
8 Lee Jung-jae in 'Squid Game' Season 3.
Noh Ju-han / Netflix
8 Lee Jung-jae attends Netflix's FYSEE Squid Game Season 2 ATAS Official at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 30, 2025.
Getty Images for Netflix
But the sophomore edition of the series was bashed online by fans and got mostly negative reviews from critics.
The Guardian gave the season a tepid review, writing, 'It struggles to find its purpose … What a shame it takes so long to get there.'
The Telegraph compared the second season to 'a difficult second album from an overnight pop star.'
8 Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in 'Squid Game' Season 2.
No Ju-han/Netflix
'Squid Game' premiered in 2021 and became the most-watched show in Netflix history, with over 2 billion hours viewed. For his performance in Season 1, Lee won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2022.
Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently told Entertainment Weekly that Season 3 will be more brutal.
8 Lee Jung-jae in 'Squid Game' Season 2.
No Ju-han/Netflix
'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,' said Hwang, 54. 'I wanted very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature.'
8 Oh Yeong-soo, Lee Jung-jae and Park Hae-soo in 'Squid Game' Season 1.
AP
Hwang also confirmed that 'season 3 is indeed a finale' that delivers an important message.
'I wanted to focus on how [people] have to preserve their humanity amidst this intense competition in this capitalistic era,' he explained. 'I wanted to focus on how we can preserve our sense of humanity and how we should remain humans even amidst this intense competition. I try to pose that as a final question.'
'Squid Game' Season 3 premieres June 27 on Netflix.
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