10 major predictions for Squid Game Season 3

❘ Published: 2024-12-28T14:45:59

Netflix

Squid Game Season 2 might have taken a while to reach our screens, but thankfully Season 3 will be landing on Netflix in 2025, bringing an end to the story for good. What will happen next is anyone’s guess, but we have some predictions.

In the second chapter, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returns to the deadly games for another round, hoping he can use his experience to save the new players from meeting their gruesome end.

However, this is easier said than done, especially with Hwang In-ho, aka the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), infiltrating the games disguised as Player 001. Very sneaky, indeed.

If you’ve already watched to the end of Season 2, be sure to check out our top 10 predictions for Squid Game Season 3. In case you hadn’t figured it out already, spoilers ahead!

Squid Game players are punished for the coup

In the Season 2 finale, Gi-hun and his allies stage a coup against the Pink Soldiers, culminating in a heart-thumping gunfight. Eventually, the Front Man assumes his role and thwarts their efforts, resulting in the guards overpowering the players.

Gi-hun’s friend Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) is murdered in front of him as a result, but this is likely not the only punishment the organizers have in store for them. I predict that in Squid Game Season 3, the players will no longer have the power to vote, and will be forced to play the games right through to the end.

After all, is anyone really going to want to keep going after the bloodbath of the finale? Perhaps the guards eradicate their democratic freedoms altogether.

Organ harvesting ring gets an upgrade

If you thought the organ harvesting subplot in Squid Game Season 2 was creepy, the third chapter might take things up a notch.

What if the black market business isn’t just a side hustle for the organizers? Instead, we might find out that it’s backed by some seriously powerful people, making the games even harder to penetrate.

We already know the mask-wearing VIPs (very irritating perverts) are involved, but maybe politicians and high-ranking officials are the recipients of these fresh organs, making Hwang Jun-ho’s (Wi Ha-joon) efforts to infiltrate the island even trickier.

Squid Game goes international

This would also pave the way for another Season 3 prediction: the revelation that Squid Game isn’t limited to South Korea.

What if Gi-hun and Jun-ho manage to figure out who’s involved in the games, only to discover that Squid Game has expanded internationally, with powerful elites from across the globe involved.

This is more of a cynical take, but it would certainly open up the potential for spinoffs down the line (including David Fincher’s divisive English-language adaptation).

The Front Man is all front

This prediction would certainly make for an interesting twist: what if the Front Man’s goals are actually the same as Gi-hun’s? After realizing there’s no way he could stop Squid Game from the outside, maybe he decided to try and take it down from the inside.

Sure, this means that he’s done some pretty terrible things – including shooting his own brother and killing Jung-bae – but he could believe it’s all for the greater good.

As we learn in Squid Game Season 2, before he became the Front Man, In-ho was a police officer and a family man. When his wife developed acute cirrhosis, he did everything he could to save her but to no avail.

To make matters worse, she discovered she was pregnant. In-ho wanted to sell his kidney but couldn’t as he’d already donated it to Jun-ho. His circumstances led him to Squid Game, but his wife and unborn baby died nonetheless.

It could be argued that this led him down a villainous path, eventually becoming the Front Man. But a leading theory is that Squid Game Season 3 will reveal he’s one of the good guys – and he’ll even get a redemption arc in the final showdown.

The VIPs get their comeuppance

Remember the VIPs from Season 1? Those rich, mask-wearing creeps who thought they were above it all, sitting in their ivory towers while betting on players’ lives like it was some kind of sporting event? Yeah, those guys.

They were MIA in Season 2, so there’s all the chance they’ll be back in Season 3. Given they’re among the most detestable characters in the series, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk might give us some sort of poetic relief by showing their comeuppance.

Imagine Gi-hun and his allies squaring off with them in a bloody showdown, or Jun-ho exposing them for the scumbags they are. If Squid Game Season 3 is going to wrap things up, let’s give the VIPs a sendoff they’ll never forget.

Kang No-eul saves Park Kyung-seok

Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) is one of the most intriguing new characters in Squid Game. As a North Korean defector, she is desperate to find her daughter, making her the ideal candidate to play the games.

But we soon find out that she’s not a player at all – she’s a Pink Soldier, one who finds herself at odds with her peers (she’s the only one to have a conscience). She also has a soft spot for Player 246, Park Kyung-seok (Lee Jin-uk), having met his sick daughter while out in the real world.

At the end of Squid Game Season 2, Kyung-seok is shot by one of the guards after taking part in the coup. But we don’t actually see where he’s shot. Plus, the guard who shoots him is wearing a triangle mask, the same as the one worn by No-eul.

I believe Squid Game Season 3 will show No-eul shot Kyung-seok in a non-fatal area, using her access to save him. This could lead to her redemption arc, and she might even join forces with Gi-hun and co. in their efforts to stop the games for good.

Red Light, Green Light 2.0

It’s safe to say there will be more deadly games in Season 3 – the clue is in the name. It’s hard to say what sinister sports Dong-hyuk has in store for us next, but the post-credits scene alludes to a tricker version of Red Light, Green Light.

In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clip, there are now two versions of the deadly, all-seeing doll: a male and a female. As we said in our breakdown of the scene, maybe this will be a terrifying take on the Bleep Test, whereby players have to run back and forth between two lines.

Or, they might be faced with additional obstacles on their race to the finish line, with both the boy and girl dolls scanning for motion from all angles. Whatever the case, it’s going to be a lot harder for the players to cheat their way through this one.

Lee Myung-gi redeems himself

It seems obvious that Kim Jun-hee, aka Player 222 (Jo Yu-ri), will give birth at some point in Squid Game Season 3. After all, when it rains, it pours, and in this case, it’ll probably pour just as she’s facing her most dangerous challenge yet.

The third and final chapter will likely feature another game like Marbles, whereby two players are pitted against each other and only one makes it out alive. What if Jun-hee goes into labor during this game, and her ex/baby daddy Lee Myung-gi, aka Player 333 (Yim Si-wan) is her playing partner?

Myung-gi slowly redeemed himself throughout Season 2, but Squid Game Season 3 might take this further, having him sacrifice himself in order to save Jun-hee and their baby. Yes, that would mean a lot of tears, but when has Squid Game ever stopped that from happening?

Jun-Ho uncovers the truth about the captain

Jun-ho doesn’t know it yet, but Captain Park’s shady behavior could be the key to unraveling the mystery of Squid Game’s location.

I reckon the drone footage will lead to the plucky police officer uncovering the truth about the captain, which he’ll use as leverage to get info from him – not only about the location of the island but also the organizers behind Squid Game.

Armed with this information, he rounds up as many mercenaries as he can and heads to the island, ready for the final showdown.

Gi-hun makes the ultimate sacrifice

Look, I want Gi-hun to survive and live a happy life more than anyone, but if watching relentless dystopian dramas and vengeance movies has taught me anything, it’s that the ending is always tragic.

What we know about the island is that the facility has tunnels as secret passageways, which are supposed to be for the VIPs to escape if an emergency arises. Once they escape, bombs are set off to bury the tunnels.

What if Jun-ho, Gi-hun, and the other allies manage to stage another coup, one that results in the organizers attempting to escape through the tunnels? But in this scenario, Gi-hun ends up down there too.

He’s faced with a difficult decision: don’t set off the bombs and risk the organizers’ escape, or do set them off and die in the process. Being the ultimate hero that he is, I believe he’d sacrifice himself for the greater good.

But with the island crumbling, the question will remain: is the world ready for the truth of Squid Game, or will the cycle start all over again?

Squid Game Season 3 is set to drop at some point in 2025. Until then, read about how the best new character may be inspired by this shocking true story, the reason Season 2 is so short, and the show’s most upsetting game yet. You can also check out other shows to get excited about in 2025.