<i>Squid Game</i> Season 3 Almost Ended in an Entirely Different Way

THE RUNDOWN

• Squid Game came to an epic conclusion with its third and final season, which debuted on June 27.
• The show’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, has since discussed the alternate, “happy ending” he originally had planned for the series.
• Ultimately, he felt the current ending felt “more appropriate.”

Spoilers below.

It might be hard to picture a happy ending in the world of Squid Game, with all its brutality and violence, but that’s just what creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had in mind when he was writing the series finale. The filmmaker and showrunner told Vanity Fair that he originally planned for a different conclusion to the show’s third and final season, but ended up changing course upon further reflection.

“In the beginning, when I was just vaguely thinking about seasons two and three, I thought of an ending where Gi-hun makes it out of the games alive and goes to see his daughter in the U.S.” he told the magazine. “So it was kind of a happy ending. But once I actually started writing, I got to thinking more and more about what it is that I wanted to say through this show. What kind of message should I be sending to the world? And that’s when I felt the current ending would be more appropriate.”

Ultimately, the series ends on a less uplifting note. In the final game, the last two players left are Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and baby 222, the newborn child of deceased player Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri). In a dramatic move, Gi-hun sacrifices himself so the child can make it out of the arena alive with the prize money. In an epilogue scene, it’s the Front Man who visits Gi-hun’s daughter in America, to give her her father’s belongings and the rest of his winnings from the previous game.

Elaborating on his decision tot change the ending, Hwang said, “I felt that the world had gotten even worse compared to when I was working on season one. Economic inequality was getting worse; there were no real solutions being offered for the climate crisis; the threat of war was growing in various parts of the world; and the number of vulnerable people falling outside the social safety net was increasing. It felt like the younger generations were losing more and more hope for the future.

“So as part of the older generation, I thought that in order to leave a better world for future generations, it was time for us to put a halt to our incessant greed and selfishness—at least to some extent. I felt it was time for us to make sacrifices and start thinking seriously about how we can create a better future.”

He added later, “By having Gi-hun, a member of the older generation, sacrifice himself to save that child, I wanted to convey the idea that this is how we must look at giving the future generation a better world. I felt that was the most suitable ending for this show.”

As for what else he originally envisioned for the ending, Hwang said he had a “vague idea that Gi-hun and a few of the other major characters—and maybe including the baby as well—would survive and leave the island. I imagined Jun-ho [Wi Ha-joon] and the police arriving at the right time during the final game and, instead of Gi-hun ending the game on his own, he’d do it with the help of others.”

Even if the current ending isn’t what fans had pictured, it has proven to be a great streaming success. Netflix announced today that, since its premiere, Squid Game season 3 ranked No. 1 in 93 countries and “broke the record for most views for a show in its first three days.”