Squid Game 3 Cast Guide: Which Characters Are Alive or Dead?

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SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from the 'Squid Game' Season 2 finale.
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'Squid Game' returns for one last round with the launch of its third and final season on June 27.
Though it's been only six months since Season 2 premiered with its Dec. 27 drop on Netflix, and proved to be another giant success for the streamer, it's probably a good idea to refresh your memory regarding which major 'Squid Game' players (both those in the actual deadly games and those who are key characters outside the fatal arena) are still alive going into the show's final six episodes.
Among the many who have already fallen by the end of Season 2 are Gi-hun/Player 456's (Lee Jung-jae) best friend Jung-bae/Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), who was shot and killed by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) in the final moments of the second-season finale after Gi-hun led an uprising of the players in the current game.
Though the act was committed right in front of Gi-hun, who screamed in pain as his friend bled out next to him, Gi-hun remains unaware that the masked Front Man is actually In-ho. Using the fake name Young-il, he had entered the games to toy with Gi-hun's optimistic worldview and thwart his plans to stop the games, and also befriended him throughout Season 2.
Along with Jung-bae, absent from the final installment of 'Squid Game' are other notable 'Squid Game' characters who died (both inside and outside the games), including: The Recruiter (Gong Yoo), Mr. Kim (Oh Dal-su), Se-mi/Player 380 (Won Ji-an) and Hye-won/Player 196 (Song Ji-woo). Su-bong, a.k.a. Thanos/Player 230 (Choi Seung-hyun) — who served as Gi-hun's main antagonist in the second season — was killed during a fight one night in the barracks, stabbed to death by Myung-gi/Player 333.
See below for a guide to the main characters heading into 'Squid Game' Season 3.The winner of the Squid Game that took place three years ago in the original season, Gi-hun has decided to re-enter in an attempt to figure out who is still running it after the death of game creator Oh Il-nam, in order to take them down. Gi-hun has become consumed by his grief and trauma over his experiences in the games, and has spent the past three years using the blood-money prize he earned (45.6 billion in South Korean won) to investigate the games.
By the end of Season 2, Gi-hun has built a crew of followers who are also trying to stop the games and managed to lead an uprising against the guards, but lost his best friend and fellow player Jung-bae in the process.The current head of the Squid Game, following the death of game creator Oh Il-nam at the end of Season 1. In-ho has been working for the games since winning them himself years ago, leading the pink masked guards while wearing his own all-black uniform.
In Season 2, In-ho decides to follow in Oh Il-nam's footsteps and enter the games as Player 001, in order to teach a lesson to Gi-hun upon his return to the game. Gi-hun, who only ever encountered the Front Man when he was masked, has no idea that In-ho, who goes by the name Young-il during the games, is the man in charge. He befriends Gi-hun and saves him and his friends multiple times during the games, only to fake his own death and then return to his masked role as the Front Man. In the final moments of Season 2, while masked, he kills Jung-bae in front Gi-hun, undermining the uprising.A police officer who infiltrated the Squid Game in Season 1 in hopes of finding his lost brother In-ho, who has been missing since he entered the games. At the end of Season 1, Jun-ho finds his brother, In-ho, but it turns out he is now the Front Man in charge of the game. In-ho shoots Jun-ho off the top of a cliff, seemingly letting him fall to his death. Jun-ho recovers and is working as a traffic cop at the start of Season 2. He then goes on to team up with Gi-hun and Woo-seok to try and get back to the games and stop them.A woman who works in an amusement park after escaping from North Korea to South Korea and having been separated from her infant daughter in the process. She pays investigators to look for her daughter with her small salary, but then takes a job as one of the masked pink guards at the games in exchange for an offer of help to find her child. While working as a guard in the games, she attempts to help some of the players, including Player 246, whom she recognizes as a former co-worker whose young daughter is sick with cancer.At the start of Season 2, Woo-seok was employed by Gi-hun to look for The Recruiter who brings people into the Squid Game. He worked for Mr. Kim, a former loan shark of Gi-hun's who trusts that something about Gi-hun's story regarding the games must be true because he was able to pay back his enormous debt three years ago. Mr. Kim is Woo-seok's boss and friend, and Woo-seok becomes invested in helping Gi-hun and Jun-ho find the people behind the games when Mr. Kim is killed by The Recruiter.A former cryptocurrency influencer who, after losing a hefty sum of cash and incurring huge losses for himself and his subscribers, becomes a fugitive until his involvement in the game. He discovers he's in the games with his former lover Jun-hee/Player 222, who is pregnant with his child. He oscillates between doing what's best when wanting to protect Jun-hee and the baby and wanting to win the large sum of money at the end of the games. He killed Thanos by stabbing him in the neck with a fork during a fight that broke out one night in the barracks.A strong-willed woman who participates in the game due to bad investments made on the advice of theinfluencer Myung-gi. It is soon revealed that Jun-hee has entered the deadly competition while pregnant with his baby. She makes friends with Gi-hun and his team during the games.A young player in the games who is quickly drawn to Gi-hun's group and bonds with Jung-bae over their shared military backgrounds. He is in part responsible for Jung-bae's death at the end of Season 2, as he runs back to get more ammo during the uprising in the finale, but freezes and does not return to help.A transgender woman who enters the games in hopes of making enough money to complete her transition process. She becomes friends with Gi-hun and his team. The character is played by cisgender male actor Park Sung-hoon. 'I was quite amazed at the opportunity — I felt like as an actor it was going to be quite the challenge,' Park told Variety. 'I did have concerns about portraying a trans woman because I am a cisgender man, so I really wanted to approach it as cautiously and thoughtfully as possible.'Like many other players in the Squid Game, Nam-gyu joins the games because he is deeply in debt after following cryptocurrency advice from Myung-gi/Player 333. Nam-gyu quickly befriended Thanos in the games, but turned on him by the end of Season 2.A compulsive gambler neck-deep in debt who finds his own mother, Player 149, is a participant in the game. He and his mother become part of Gi-hun's team.A headstrong woman with a strong drive to provide for her family. She joins the game with the intentionof paying off her son, Yong-sik's, debts — only to find that he's joined the game as well, as Player 007. She and her son become part of Gi-hun's team.An intelligent player who tried to align himself with the late Thanos and his cohort and befriends Se-mi in the games. During a night attack in the barracks, Min-su watches Se-mi be killed without stepping in to save her.A man who works as a caricaturist at an amusement park (the same one No-eul worked at) who enters the games to pay for his young daughter's cancer treatments. No-eul spots him competing in the games when she is serving as one of the pink guards. He is part of Gi-hun's uprising at the end of Season 2.A shaman whose seemingly incoherent ramblings rub many of the other players the wrong way. She has been associated with Gi-hun's team during some games, and their enemies during others.An older man who joined the games to try to get himself out of debt, he consistently votes to continue with the games when the players are given the option to end the games throughout Season 2. He and his group are rivals to Gi-hun's peaceful team in the games.
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