Hwang Dong-hyuk Explains Why ‘Squid Game’ Is Ending With Season 3

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed the reason behind the Netflix show’s culmination with season three.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he explained that he “naturally” felt like there are simply no more stories about both the deadly game and Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) to tell. “When I was thinking about the idea for the ending of season three, I think it sort of naturally came to me that this was the finale,” he said. “I believed that with that story, I was able to tell everything that I wanted to tell through the story of Squid Game and also in the perspective of Gi-hun as a character, and I thought that we don’t need any further stories from here.” He also confirmed that he is “nearly done with the editing portion of season three,” with the final season premiering in 2025.

Hwang also touched on Squid Game’s upcoming second season and admitted that he felt the pressure of writing season two as he had no detailed plans of the series going behind its first season. “However, I did have something in mind that if there were to ever be a second season, I had this idea of what story I would tell; I thought it would be the story of Gi-hun turning away from where he was at the end of season one and going back into the games in order to put a stop to the game,” he continued, adding that “throughout seasons two and three, it’s going to be about that very journey by Gi-hun that you’re going to be following, both physically and emotionally.”

During a panel that followed an early screening of the next season’s first episode, the creator teased that the trauma inflicted upon Gi-hun had fundamentally changed him, “Gi-hun has experienced too many things, witnessed too many deaths, for him to return to the way it was before, no matter how hard he tries.” Lee doubled down, “The way you see Gi-hun in season one and the state that you see him in in season two are very different.”

Squid Game season two premieres December 26 on Netflix.