Squid Game season 3 ending explained: Will there be a spin-off?

The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) appears to be closer than ever to achieving his goal of crushing the plucky Player 456's spirit, but pushes the game to new depths of depravity in an attempt to snuff out those dying embers.

Fans have been thoroughly divided on whether the Squid Game season 3 ending lives up to the years of hype, with a CGI baby, an A-list cameo and some gut-wrenching deaths being among the points of contention.

For your essential rundown on all of the above, scroll on for our full recap of the Squid Game finale, which is available to stream right now on Netflix.

Squid Game season 3 ending explained: Who won the 34th Squid Game?

The 34th Squid Game was won by Player 222, the newborn baby of mother Jun-hee (the first Player 222) and father Myung-gi (Player 333).

After giving birth and injuring her leg during hide-and-seek, Player 222 is left vulnerable for the ‘Jump Rope’ game, and she ultimately dies. Before she died, Gi-hun rescued her baby and vowed to protect them.

After the death of Player 222, the sick and twisted VIPs suggest that the baby become a player in the game and inherit her mother’s number, to "make the games more exciting". This angers the contestants as their share of the money is reduced.

The soldiers tell the remaining nine contestants that in the upcoming game, they will have to choose three contestants to be eliminated and the rest can live and take their share of the money. Six group together – including Im Jeong-dae (Player 100) and Lee Myung-gi (333) – and target Gi-hun, the baby and Min-su (125).

The Front Man calls for a meeting with Gi-hun, where he reveals his true identity as In-ho / Player 001. He knows that the six contestants are going to target them, so he offers Gi-hun and the baby a lifeline. He places a knife on the table and tells Gi-hun to kill the remaining contestants in their sleep and he can walk away with the baby, as the game could not go ahead with only two contestants.

The protagonist takes the knife and holds it up against the throat of a contestant while they are sleeping. However, he is unable to go through with it after he sees a vision of Sae-byeok (played by HoYeon) - who was murdered in a similar way in season 1 by Sang-woo. She tells him, "Don’t do it… You are not that kind of person."

The final game is ‘Sky Squid Game’, held on three pillars - square, triangle and circle. Players can only proceed to the next pillar when a minimum of one player is pushed off. Whoever is left standing after the third game is complete walks away with their share of the money.

After teaming up with Gi-hun on the second pillar, Myung-gi betrays him and wants to kill him before reaching the final game – which means he is willing to kill his own baby to walk out with the money alone.

After a fight, Myung-gi is eliminated, which leaves Gi-Hun and Player 222 - however, one must die as the game has yet to begin.

Throughout the season, The Front Man wanted to push Gi-hun to his breaking point and make him question his own beliefs and faith in humanity.

However, in one last defiant act, Gi-hun maintains his humanity and sends one final message to The Front Man before sacrificing his own life, "We are not horses. We are human. Humans are…"

Player 222 is declared the winner and is taken away by The Front Man. The baby is delivered to the house of his brother, detective Hwang Jun-ho, with a note that says 'Player 222. Winner.'

Attached to the card is a golden credit card that contains the 45.6 billion won prize money for winning Squid Game.

What happens to No-eul?

Rebellious Squid Game guard No-eul (played by Park Gyu-young) is last seen travelling to China, where she hopes to find her long-lost daughter, who she left in North Korea after defecting to the South.

Through No-eul, writer Hwang Dong-hyuk showed a different, more human side to the seemingly emotionless pink guards, examining what could possibly drive someone to be complicit in the barbarity of the Squid Game.

After the failed coup at the end of season 2, No-eul and the rest of the pink soldiers are sent to eliminate the dissenting players – including Player 246, whose daughter is suffering from blood cancer.

Instead of killing him, she instructs him to fake his death and hide in the casket, where he is subsequently sent to the incinerator room. Here, she rescues him and escapes the island with him.

No-eul returns to the island alone after her superior threatens the life of Player 246's hospitalised daughter, confronting him in the control room and demanding that he delete any record of Player 246.

After burning Player 246's records, she finds her own papers, including a photo of her husband and daughter, which suggested that both had died following her defection. She sits on The Front Man's seat and puts a gun to her own head.

However, Gi-hun's noble sacrifice at the end of the Squid Game – done so that infant Player 222 may have a chance at life – seems to restore her faith in humanity.

At the end of the series finale, No-eul is having her portrait painted at the theme park by Player 246 – although he isn't aware that they've met before. His daughter, Na-yeon, is seen fit and healthy after money was raised for her cancer treatment.

No-eul then receives a phone call from the broker that she hired to find her daughter, saying that they think they have found her daughter alive and well in China.

This contradicts the intelligence of the Squid Game agents, leaving viewers to interpret for themselves whose information can be trusted and precisely what No-eul's future might look like.

Why was Cate Blanchett in the Squid Game finale?

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said that Cate Blanchett was cast as The Recruiter simply because the role demanded someone with "charisma that could dominate the screen in an instant".

The screenwriter insisted (via Variety) that the casting was "not at all" related to the long-rumoured American Squid Game spin-off – and that even he isn't sure if that fabled project is definitely going ahead.

"All I wanted to have was just an impactful ending, and that's all there was to it," said director Hwang. "Honestly, I haven't heard officially from Netflix about David Fincher creating a Squid Game. I have heard the rumours, of course."

Blanchett's appearance came after In-ho flew to Los Angeles to deliver a package to Gi-hun’s daughter with her late father’s belongings, including his Squid Game tracksuit and a golden credit card – just as Jun-ho was given on behalf of Player 222.

Later, when The Front Man is being driven through LA, he sees two people playing ddakji in an alleyway, one of whom being Blanchett's sinister Squid Game recruiter and the other a desperate individual attempting to win some much-needed cash.

During the game, Blanchett's character looks over at The Front Man and gives him a knowing smirk. This suggests that the games have expanded to America – and that In-ho could once again be drafted to oversee their operation.

Given Hwang's comments about Blanchett's casting, it isn't yet clear whether the Academy Award-winning actor will return for any potential spin-off series – for now, we can only sit tight and wait for updates.

Will there be another season?

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said that the Gi-Hun saga is officially over and that he's not sure he has the "stamina" to produce another Squid Game season personally.

That said, he didn’t rule out the possibility of future spin-offs. Similarly, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lee Byung-hun teased a potential Front Man spin-off, which would be an exciting prospect for audiences.

Byung-hun explained: "To look at the Front Man with a full character study would be a very fun thing to do... Of course I'd be willing to star in it. The character has already been built and designed, and I'm very compelled by him.

"Just as the fans are curious to know more about him, I am too. That's a story I'd be very willing to tell."

As the season ended, it became clearer what a Front Man spin-off might look like. In-ho had a flashback and it was revealed that he was once a participant of the Squid Games as he sat with a masked Oh Il-nam - Player 001 and the founder of Squid Game.

Just like Gi-hun, In-ho was given a knife to kill the remaining contestants in their sleep. However, unlike Gi-hun, In-ho went through with it to win the games.

A potential spin-off could show The Front Man overseeing more death and destruction in Los Angeles while we see flashbacks of how he became the masked villain after winning Squid Games.

If the upcoming spin-off is set in LA, then it could also be interesting to see Gi-hun's daughter play an important role in the series as she investigates her father's death and the unusual circumstances around it.

Read more:

• Who dies in Squid Game season 3? All deaths in order
• Who is Dae-ho (Player 388) in Squid Game and why did he flee the uprising?
• How much is Squid Game's 45.6 billion won prize money in dollars and pounds?
• Squid Game is ending with season 3 – but star Lee Jung-jae wants it to continue

Squid Game season 3 is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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