Squid Game season 3 release date, theories and latest news

In recent weeks, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has repeatedly teased that the final episodes would be launching sooner than some might expect as they were filmed back-to-back with the second season.

Those hints have been proven true, with Squid Game set to return to our screens in the summer to conclude what has been a truly historic and game-changing run, propelling South Korean drama to new heights of popularity.

Lee Jung-jae will be back as Player 456 (aka Seong Gi-hun), who suffered a devastating loss in the season 2 ending, which seemed to show the Squid Game guards triumph over a courageous revolt.

If you're eager to find out what comes next, read on for everything we know about Squid Game season 3 so far – including top theories and the recently confirmed release date.

Squid Game season 3 release date speculation: When is it coming out?

CONFIRMED: Squid Game season 3 will be released on Friday 27th June 2025 on Netflix.

The announcement came during the streamer's Next on Netflix publicity event and followed weeks of rampant speculation, which flared up when a video uploaded to Netflix Korea's YouTube channel reportedly named the very same date (via Forbes).

It puts almost exactly six months between the second and third seasons, which is a reasonable wait indeed, made possible by the two entries being shot back-to-back.

Squid Game season 3 cast: Who could return?

Squid Game season 3 will see Lee Jung-jae return to the lead role of Seong Gi-hun (aka Player 456), along with all the surviving players from the previous season – and devious villain The Front Man (played by Lee Byung-hun).

Alas, a few fan favourites were eliminated in the preceding seven episodes, meaning we probably won't be seeing any more from Lee Seo-hwan as Jung-bae, Lee Jin-wook as Park Gyeong-seok, Choi Seung-hyun as chaotic rapper Thanos or Won Ji-an as Se-mi.

In summary, we expect these actors to comprise the principal Squid Game season 3 cast:

• Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun
• Wi Ha-joon as Hwang Jun-ho
• Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho
• Im Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi (Player 333)
• Kang Ha-neul as Dae-ho (Player 388)
• Park Sung-hoon as Hyun-ju (Player 120)
• Yang Dong-geun as Park Yong-sik (Player 007)
• Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee (Player 222)
• Kang Ae-shim as Jang Geum-ja (Player 149)
• Park Gyu-young as No-eul
• Chae Kook-hee as Seon-nyeo (Player 044)
• Lee David as Min-su (Player 125)
• Roh Jae-won as Nam-gyu (Player 124)

Squid Game season 3 plot theories

Little is known about the plot of Squid Game season 3, but it seems that the games are set to resume following Gi-hun's failed attempt at a revolution.

That seems clear from the inclusion of a chilling mid-credits scene, which hints at a second round of Red Light, Green Light, featuring an additional targeting robot to render Gi-hun's clever strategy obsolete.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk previously explained how season 2 and 3 relate to one another in an interview with RadioTimes.com.

He said: "Towards the end of season 2, you will see Gi-hun go through a very important and significant event, almost the pinnacle of his character arc, and season 3 is when you will be brought to that closure of Gi-hun’s journey.

"And I think with season 2, you will be in the middle of that progress, that intriguing journey of following Gi-hun and thinking to yourself: 'Will he be able to put an end to this game? Will he succeed, and how will he?'"

It has since become clear that the "important event" referenced by Hwang in the above quote is the execution of his best friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) in front of his very eyes.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hwang continued: "The third season will really explore that sense of loss and failure, that guilt weighing so heavily on Gi-hun. How’s he going to navigate the story further with all of that weighing down on him?"

Asked whether he sees the story continuing, he added: "Personally, I see the third season as being the finale to this story. That’s because I believe I’ve had closure to the story I wanted to tell about society through the character of Seong Gi-hun.

"If I ever wanted to go back to the world of Squid Game, it would be about different characters with a different story arc. Some kind of spin-off, maybe. For example, the masked guards. How did they end up here? Something like that, maybe."

Plenty of ideas have been posited for what might happen in the next season of Squid Game, with outgoing star Lee Seo-hwan telling us his own dark theory in a recent interview.

That said, it's still quite possible that Dong-hyuk will take things in an unforeseen direction, with co-star Jo Yu-ri (who plays pregnant player Jun-hee) talking down the speculation in an interview with Japanese website Cinema Today.

She teased: "It seems like a lot of people have been predicting the contents of season 3, but it seems like not many of them have gotten it right, as I thought. A truly unimaginably brutal and cruel story awaits, so please look forward to it."

In a separate interview with RadioTimes.com, Jo Yu-ri addressed speculation that Player 001 (aka The Front Man) could take pity on her, as he is aware of her condition from his own brief stint as a plant inside the game.

Staying cryptic, she simply stated: "There is a possibility. You can never rule out any possibilities!"

Meanwhile, after some fans expressed disappointment over his anticlimactic role in season 2, actor Wi Ha-joon (who plays detective Hwang Jun-ho) assured us that his character's stories "will be dealt with in depth" when Squid Game returns.

Is there a Squid Game season 3 trailer?

Not yet, but Netflix previously shared a compilation of best bits from the show, plus Wednesday and Stranger Things, as all three prepare to return in 2025.

The streamer also shared the season 2 mid-credits scene, which appears to be taken from a season 3 episode, to its social media channels, teasing a terrifying schoolboy robot to complement the iconic Red Light, Green Light schoolgirl.

We'll update this page when more season 3 teasers are released.

Squid Game seasons 1-2 are available to stream on Netflix. Season 3 coming soon. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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