Latest news with #Jun-hee
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Squid Game' Star Unpacks Her Character's Sacrifice: 'I Could Not Stop Crying'
[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the season three finale, 'Humans are …'] Squid Game is a story about sacrifice in order to achieve a better future. In the end, the third and final season of Netflix's global mega-hit killed its protagonist so creator Hwang Dong-hyuk could deliver that message. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Old Guard 2' Review: Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne Bring All the Right Moves, but Netflix Sequel Doesn't Have the Same Kick Streaming Ratings: 'Squid Game' Final Season Sets Three-Day Record on Netflix Charts 'Tires' Renewed for Season 3 at Netflix The finale, titled 'Humans are…', saw reluctant hero Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) sacrificing himself so that the baby of two deceased players in the deadly South Korean Games could survive. The baby's mother, Kim Jun-hee, aka Player 222 (Jo Yu-ri), made the first ultimate sacrifice when, with a broken foot and unable to compete, she threw herself off a sky-high ledge and charged the then-alive Gi-hun to take care of her newborn baby, who was birthed during the prior game, in order to give her child the best shot at survival. The irony is that the final game came down to Gi-hun and the baby's father, Lee Myung-gi, aka Player 333 (Yim Swian), as they battled each other on another sky-high ledge. Gi-hun ended up victorious, but because of the final game's twisted rules and the baby now counting as a player, only Gi-hun or the baby could be left alive. When Gi-hun jumps to his death, the baby is then crowned the champion. The ultimate ending (complete with an A-list cameo from Cate Blanchett) is a bleak one, but there is hope for Jun-hee's legacy. In one of the show's final scenes, antagonist The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) leaves the newborn — along with the 45.6 billion won cash prize, about $31.5 million — with his good guy police detective brother, Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon). Before the third and final season of Squid Game released to a new viewership record for Netflix, Jo Yu-ri was most likely recognized for her K-pop origins, first as a member of group Iz*One and then as a solo artist. Below, she spoke with The Hollywood Reporter via a translator about landing the standout role, her emotional reaction when learning about Jun-hee's fate and her hopes for the ending, before she had seen the final episode. *** Coming from the K-pop world and with your musical background, how did this role come to you? I received an audition request. The audition process was pretty lengthy, so it was three, four months of preparing for Jun-hee and then I got the role. I read that your audition was a process. What attracted you to Jun-hee and what made you want to fight for this role? I actually did not know what kind of role it would be, specifically. I really had no prior information on the character. What I was able to glean from the audition process was really only what director [Hwang] told me — her name and that she was pregnant. That was pretty much all I had during the process. But after I got the role, he gave me the script and that was when I was able to fill in the blanks. For her to enter the Games so far into her pregnancy, we assume she was at a point of desperation. But as we get to know her — and then see her ultimate sacrifice — we learn she is incredibly strong-willed. What backstory did you create to help you understand her better? As we know from watching the show, there's not a lot revealed about Jun-hee's backstory. I did have to work a little bit on my own to fill in those blanks. The director [Hwang] once mentioned to me that she could have tried to follow in Myungi's footsteps and tried to be a YouTuber, but I felt her personality wasn't quite right to be a successful YouTuber. In my mind, I think she made a few attempts but failed, then found out she was pregnant and was working odd jobs. That then led her to meet the man who recruits her. I understand that you wore a prosthetic belly and learned how to walk and act pregnant while you were filming. The labor scene was very intense to watch. Was the baby entirely CGI and what was it like to film that scene, along with your two co-stars Kang Ae-sim (Player 149) and Park Sung-hoon (Player 120), who also ultimately don't make it out of the Games alive? For the birth scene, I was really helped by my co-star Ae-sim. I took her advice a lot, and she really helped out. So filming that scene was difficult, but I definitely managed. With the baby, we actually had a silicone dummy doll version of a baby. We had two versions: one that was moving and one that was a robotic baby, and I remember alternating between those dolls to film that scene. But even if it was a doll, it just felt so real to me. I remember tearing up, just holding that baby in my arms. Jun-hee's death is so heartbreaking. The odds were against her, but as a viewer, we don't want to accept that she won't make it out. How did you react when you read her fate, and that she sacrifices herself and hands her child over to Gi-hun to give her child the best shot of survival? Was that why you had teased this season as being 'brutal and cruel'? Just the concept of having a pregnant woman in the Games made me think, 'How much more cruel is this [seasons two and three] going to be?' The scene where she decides to give Gi-hun the baby was definitely a super emotionally intense scene. I really tried my best to portray that sense of emotion and how torn she was. I was also very curious to see how the baby would factor into the Games, because at the time, I could not read the scripts that followed Jun-hee's death. So I was very curious. What was it like filming her final scene, in particular her final conversations with both Gi-hun and Myungi? Also, how immersive was that Jump Rope game set as you were filming her goodbye and going through the process of her making the decision to sacrifice herself? It was really emotionally difficult, especially my last conversation with Gi-hun. I really felt my emotions just spilling over and exploding. But the director [Hwang] asked me to pull it back a little bit, actually, and to keep it a bit more restrained. I remember that was even harder to do. My scene with Myungi is one I absolutely love because it was my audition scene. Jun-hee's words, especially in that scene, are so heartbreaking, and I found myself relating to when she is asking Myungi, 'With my foot like this, are you going to, what, carry me across?' Even after the cameras stopped rolling, I just could not stop crying. The finale boiled down to the father of the baby (Player 333), Gi-hun (Player 456) and Jun-hee's baby as the remaining players in the Sky Squid Game. Were you surprised when you found out the evil twist that the baby would actually become a player in the game, and take on Jun-hee's Player 222 number? What were your hopes going into the finale? I remember when I found out the baby was going to be a participant. I remember feeling despair and not even wanting that to happen. I remember almost tearing up. I have only seen up to episode five [the penultimate episode] of season three. The most positive outcome that I was trying to think of is that Detective Jun-ho finally figures out where the island is, and the Games stop. And then there are three winners left. That was what I was hoping for. [Writer's note: Though there were not three winners in the end, Jun-hee's baby was the ultimate winner and survived the Games and the series, giving the baby the best possible outcome.] *** The final season of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix. Read THR's take on the finale cameo and how it could set up a spinoff, and our two-part interview with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk on making the final season and why he ended the series how he did. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Cosmopolitan
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Who Died in ‘Squid Game' Season 3? - All the Deaths in ‘Squid Game' Season 3
Squid Game Season 3 has officially landed on our screens, as the show wraps up the nail-biting drama which was initiated in Season 2. After a six-month wait, we fiiiiinally get a resolution to the twisty arcs introduced in the last season, with some major turns in the narrative. To recap, the second season sees Seong Gi-hun, who won the game in the first season, return to the game in order to end it once and for all. He's joined by Hwang Jun-ho, a police officer who infiltrated the game to find his missing brother, only to discover his brother is the Front Man—the overseer of the game, who won a previous edition and, after doing so, lost his faith in humanity. The third season returns to the set-up of the second season and, after a failed rebellion, takes the audience into a set of games of escalating danger as the future of the players hangs in the balance. As is the nature of the game, the third season sees a huge number of mortalities among the players. So, if you're wondering who dies, we've got the full details (in order). In the first episode of the third season, we deal with the aftermaths of the failed rebellion at the end of season two. The majority of players who joined Gi-hun's strike team are confirmed as dead, this includes Oh Young-il (Player 001), Seon Han-nam (Player 015), Kwon Byeong-su (Player 047), Player 072, Player 145, Player 206, Player 324 and Park Jung-bae (Player 390). Cho Hyun-ju and Kang Dae-ho, however, have not been executed and remain alive. Elsewhere in the episode, the pink guard No-eul kills the organ traffickers as part of her plan to save Gyeong-seok. After forcing the doctor to stabilise Gyeong-seok in the last episode, No-eul kills him after Gyeong-seok recovers. The second episode continues the deadly game of Hide and Seek begun in the first episode, which sees armed taggers hunting and killing hiders who are attempting to find and unlock exits with different types of keys. Jun-hee goes into labour, with Hyun-ju (Player 120) helping her give birth. Myung-gi kills Hyun-ju despite her helping deliver his ex-girlfriend's baby. Min-su is under the influence of Thanos's drugs and hallucinates that Seon-nyeo is Nam-gyu, killing her. Dae-ho is killed by Gi-hun, who is looking to take revenge after he abandoned the revolt. When Yong-sik attempts to kill Jun-hee, Geum-ja (who, let's remind you, is his mother) stabs him in order to thwart his efforts. Yong-sik is the killed by guards. The eliminated players are killed by VIPs posing as soldiers. Geum-ja pleads with Gi-hun to protect Jun-hee and her child, then commits suicide out of guilt for her role in her son's death. Nam-gyu also dies after Min-Su throws Thanos's necklace (where he stashed his drugs, à la Cruel Intentions). Nam-gyu is experiencing withdrawal, so he jumps to catch it but instead falls to his death during the Jump Rope game. Still in the Jump Rope game, Jun-hee (who has broken her angle) jumps off the ledge to her death after her baby is safely carried to the next round by Gi-hun. Captain Park is shot with a harpoon by Jun-ho and admits he was "just following orders,' therefore confirming he was reporting to the Front Man. No-eul kills the Officer after a tense confrontation where she forces him to destroy all records of Gyeong-seok's participation. In the final game of Sky Squid Game, players push each other to their death. Min-su dies in the first round, as his withdrawal symptoms from Thanos's drugs make him an easy target. The remaining eight players kill each other in the following order: Player 336, Player 353, Player 203, Player 100 and Player 039. Three then remain: Myung-gi, Gi-hun and the baby of Jun-hee, who took Jun-hee's place as Player 222. This one is tense! Still in the Sky Squid Game, the final three players are engaged in a fight to the death in the show's finale. When just Myung-gi, Gi-hun and the baby are left, Myung-gi (who, let us remind you, is the baby's father) attempts to kill the baby so that he can win the game. Gi-hun attacks Myung-gi, who falls to his death. Due to the complicated rules of the game, which require you to press the button to officially start the button, Myung-gi's death doesn't count: amidst all the drama, no-one pressed the button. Gi-hun then presses the button to start a new round and sacrifices himself so that the baby can live and become the show's winner.
The Star
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Jo Yu-ri says she didn't expect her 'Squid Game' role to be this difficult
Jun-hee has to be extra careful in the game due to her condition. Photos: Handout Actress Jo Yu-ri, who plays Kim Jun-hee or Player 222, confesses she was a huge fan of the Squid Game when the first season was released in September 2021. 'I remember watching S1 with my family and thinking to myself, 'I really, really want to be part of a show like this',' recalls the 23-year-old to StarLifestyle in this exclusive Zoom interview to talk about the series' third season. 'What felt so fresh to me was the concept of turning innocent childhood games into something deadly. It was something I had never seen before – shocking, yet incredibly original," she adds. Hence, when she got the chance to audition for S2, she jumped at it. However, Jo says that she had no idea what was in store for her character who turns up at the game, very much pregnant. 'The audition script I received was a dialogue between Jun-hee and Myung-gi (Player 333 portrayed by Im Si-wan). Im Si-wan (left) and Jo Yu-ri play former lovers in the show. Photo: AP 'I knew the role would be challenging, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult,' she shares, smiling at the memory. The level of difficulty she faced is especially impressive considering Jo made her acting debut in 2022's Mimicus and had appeared in just one episode of another K-drama, Work Later, Drink Now 2 (2023), ahead of Squid Game. Prior to acting, she was best known as a member of the South Korean-Japanese girl group Iz*One. While she says there were many challenges as Jun-hee, her biggest concern was playing a pregnant woman convincingly. 'I kept wondering – what if real mothers feel my performance isn't believable, that it lacks authenticity? 'That thought weighed heavily on me. "But thanks to support from my co-star Kang Ae-Shim (who plays Jang Geum-Ja or Player 149), as well as friends and mothers I spoke with, I was able to overcome those fears and carry the part successfully.'
India Today
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Squid Game Season 3 is receiving backlash over a birth scene. Here's all about it
'Squid Game Season 3' has come under fire for a controversial childbirth scene featured in Episode 2. The moment, which sees contestant Kim Jun-hee giving birth mid-challenge, has left many viewers stunned, and not in a good a life-or-death task, Jun-hee suddenly goes into labour and delivers her baby with the help of fellow contestant Geum Ja (played by Kang Ae-sim). The entire sequence lasts less than five minutes and shows no signs of medical intervention, pain, or post-delivery scene has since gone viral, with viewers expressing their dismay on social media. 'So no one's going to talk about how she gave birth in five minutes? (sic)' one user wrote. (Credit: X/milfkookie) Another user highlighted the bizarre pacing of the scene: 'Gihun made it to the final games twice. Junhee gave birth in less than 15 minutes, no bleeding, nothing, but her broken ankle was treated as more painful than childbirth. The baby didn't have diapers and was fed twice but still survived (sic).' (Credit: X/NushKali) advertisementMuch of the criticism has been aimed at the show's male director, with social media users accusing him of lacking a basic understanding of childbirth. Viewers also noted the absence of amniotic fluid, placenta delivery, and the baby's unrealistic resilience despite minimal the show's reputation for social commentary, fans felt this scene missed the mark on realism. 'Squid Game 3' premiered globally on Netflix on June 27.- EndsTrending Reel
Cosmopolitan
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Who died in Squid Game season 3? All the players and their brutal deaths
Squid Game season 3 has officially landed on our screens, as the show wraps up the nail-biting drama which was initiated in season 2. After a six month wait, we fiiiiinally get a resolution to the twisty arcs introduced in the last season, with some major turns in the narrative. To recap, the second season sees Seong Gi-hun, who won the game in the first season, returns to the game in order to end it once and for all. He's joined by Hwang Jun-ho, a police officer who infiltrated the game to find his missing brother, only to discover his brother is the Front Man - the overseer of the game, who won a previous edition and, after doing so, lost his faith in humanity. The third season returns to the set-up of the second season and, after a failed rebellion, takes the audience into a set of games of escalating danger as the future of the players hangs in the balance. As is the nature of the game, the third season sees a huge number of mortalities among the players. So, if you're wondering who dies, we've got the full details (in order). In the first episode of the third season, we deal with the aftermaths of the failed rebellion at the end of season 2. The majority of players who joined Gi-hun's strike team are confirmed as dead, this includes Oh Young-il (Player 001), Seon Han-nam (Player 015), Kwon Byeong-su (Player 047), Player 072, Player 145, Player 206, Player 324 and Park Jung-bae (Player 390). Cho Hyun-ju and Kang Dae-ho, however, have not been executed and remain alive. Elsewhere in the episode, the pink guard No-eul kills the organ traffickers as part of her plan to save Gyeong-seok. After forcing the doctor to stabilise Gyeong-seok in the last episode, No-eul kills him after Gyeong-seok recovers. The second episode continues the deadly game of Hide and Seek begun in the first episode, which sees armed taggers hunting and killing hiders who are attempting to find and unlock exits with different types of keys. Jun-hee goes into labour, with Hyun-ju (Player 120) helping her give birth. Myung-gi kills Hyun-ju despite her helping deliver his ex-girlfriend's baby. Min-su is under the influence of Thanos's drugs and hallucinates that Seon-nyeo is Nam-gyu, killing her. Dae-ho is killed by Gi-hun, who is looking to take revenge after he abandoned the revolt. When Yong-sik attempts to kill Jun-hee, Geum-ja (who, let's remind you, is his mother) stabs him in order to thwart his efforts. Yong-sik is the killed by guards. The eliminated players are killed by VIPs posing as soldiers. Geum-ja pleads with Gi-hun to protect Jun-hee and her child, then commits suicide out of guilt for her role in her son's death. Nam-gyu also dies after Min-Su throws Thanos's necklace (where he stashed his drugs, à la Cruel Intentions). Nam-gyu is experiencing withdrawal, so he jumps to catch it but instead falls to his death during the Jump Rope game. Still in the Jump Rope game, Jun-hee (who has broken her angle) jumps off the ledge to her death after her baby is safely carried to the next round by Gi-hun. Captain Park is shot with a harpoon by Jun-ho and admits he was "just following orders,' therefore confirming he was reporting to the Front Man. No-eul kills the Officer after a tense confrontation where she forces him to destroy all records of Gyeong-seok's participation. In the final game of Sky Squid Game, players push each other to their death. Min-su dies in the first round, as his withdrawal symptoms from Thanos's drugs make him an easy target. The remaining eight players kill each other in the following order: Player 336, Player 353, Player 203, Player 100 and Player 039. Three then remain: Myung-gi, Gi-hun and the baby of Jun-hee, who took Jun-hee's place as Player 222. This one is tense! Still in the Sky Squid Game, the final three players are engaged in a fight to the death in the show's finale. When just Myung-gi, Gi-hun and the baby are left, Myung-gi (who, let us remind you, is the baby's father) attempts to kill the baby so that he can win the game. Gi-hun attacks Myung-gi, who falls to his death. Due to the complicated rules of the game, which require you to press the button to officially start the button, Myung-gi's death doesn't count: amidst all the drama, no-one pressed the button. Gi-hun then presses the button to start a new round and sacrifices himself so that the baby can live and become the show's winner.
