Could 'Squid Game' plan Season 4 or a spinoff? With 'caution,' creator says

USA Today

5 hours ago

Spoiler alert! The following contains details about the series finale of "Squid Game," and beyond.
After three seasons of blood, gore and unrelenting tragedy, you might be a little bit more relaxed now that Netflix's South Korean hit series "Squid Game" (now streaming) has come to an end. But the only person who might feel like a bigger wait has lifted from his shoulders is the show's creator and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk.
"I had a lot of depressing thoughts in my mind as I was working on the show," Hwang, speaking through a translator, said to USA TODAY in a recent interview. "More than that, I think I am more happy that I am free of the burden, the intense pressure" involved with making Netflix's biggest show of all time. "I have now finished."
But the final moments of the third season, which saw our hero Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) sacrifice himself during the macabre games in order to save a newborn baby, there's an opening for "Squid Game" to go on, even if Hwang is done. Though the games, in which poor indebted people compete for a fortune in schoolyard scrabbles, are done forever in South Korea, they are happening elsewhere in the world. Chiefly we see a recruiter in a Los Angeles back alley, playing ddakji with an unsuspecting victim, and that recruiter is played by none other than Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett.
Netflix has announced no plans for a future "Squid Game" spinoff, but we talked to Hwang about the possibility of the series continuing without him, how he nabbed Blanchett for that huge scene and if there was ever any hope of "Squid" having a happy ending.
Is Cate Blanchett leading an American 'Squid Game' spinoff?
Question: How did Cate Blanchett come on board?
Answer: I've always been a big fan of hers. As you know, we needed someone who could completely dominate the screen with a single line and a fleeting moment. ... She is someone who can do that, (and) all of my producers thought so, too. When I met her she told me that her kids were big "Squid Game" fans.
Does Blanchett's scene leave the door open for an American spinoff?
I didn't write that particular scene in order to open room for spinoffs. But it was about how, through Gi-hun's sacrifice, the games in Korea have come to an end. The gaming arena has been demolished. But I wanted to make the point that in other parts of the world the games do continue.
There is already a "Squid Game" reality show on Netflix ("Squid Game: The Challenge"). Can you imagine the show being continued in a scripted version without your participation?
Yeah, I think it can be made, definitely. But that said, I hope that whoever wishes to go on that route will be cautious, because this is a show that is really on the edge. It is a really tricky and nuanced show; if you slightly tilt too much to the side you can fall immediately. I hope that if other shows were to come that the intention would not just be to ride on the success. ... I don't think I have to be a part of it for the show to be made, but I hope they would consult with me.
Was there ever a version of the story in your mind that had a happy ending?
In the very beginning, I did think about that. I thought about what if Gi-hun was able to save a few of the people in there? (But) the more i thought about it, the more I thought about what kind of story do I want to tell, and the more I saw what was happening around the world in the process. ... When you look around the world, everything seems to be headed for the worst, economically and with the environment. The next generation is losing hope.
I thought (a happy) ending was not fitting for "Squid Game," or the world.