Squid Game season 3 release date speculation, theories and latest news

Well, there's some good news on this front: Squid Game creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has given a positive update on season 3's release date, hinting that it's coming "sooner than you expect".

With season 3 plot details yet to be confirmed, speculation is rife over how the third and final chapter of the South Korean thriller will conclude this dark saga, and even the stars themselves are pitching ideas, with actor Lee Seo-hwan (who plays Gi-hun's close friend Jung-bae) recently putting forward a dark theory that would be "heartbreaking", if proven correct.

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 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.

If you're excited to find out what nasty surprises still await the entire cast of characters, read on for everything we know so far about Squid Game season 3.

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

A release window for Squid Game season 3 has been confirmed, with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk telling Variety ahead of the second season's premiere that season 3 could arrive as soon as the summer or autumn of 2025.

"After season 2 launches, I believe we will be announcing the launch date for season 3 soon. I probably expect that to launch around summer or fall next year," he said.

And now Dong-hyuk has offered fans a bigger hint about when season 3 might be released.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the 2025 Golden Globes, he debunked rumours that the new season will be coming out in May, and hinted that it could drop earlier.

"I don't think it's May, but it will come out this year," he said. "It's coming, it's coming. I'm working on it. It's coming soon. Sooner than you'd expect."

So, while fans had to wait more than three years for the second chapter of the hit series, it looks like the turnaround on the third entry could be quite rapid.

At the start of 2025, Forbes and other outlets reported that a video was erroneously uploaded – and swiftly removed – from Netflix Korea's YouTube channel that supposedly revealed a Squid Game season 3 release date of Friday 27th June 2025.

Given how seasons 2 and 3 were filmed back-to-back, that is certainly a plausible date, with a six month hiatus being long enough to bring viewers rushing back to the show in droves.

However, the video's removal from YouTube by Netflix suggests that this date may not be final and could have been included in the edit as merely a placeholder. In short, take it with a hefty pinch of salt for now.

We'll update this page when an exact Squid Game season 3 release date is confirmed.

Squid Game season 3 cast: Who could return?

Squid Game season 2 introduced a raft of new characters to replace the players who lost their lives in the brutal first edition.

The main characters that we've spent the most time with are still alive by the end of season 2, but a few fan favourites are eliminated in these seven episodes.

For that reason, we probably won't be seeing any more from Lee Seo-hwan as Gi-hun's longtime friend Jung-bae, Lee Jin-wook as desperate father Park Gyeong-seok, Choi Seung-hyun as chaotic rapper Thanos, or Won Ji-an as the empathetic Se-mi.

However, other members of the Squid Game cast are likely to be reprise their roles. These include:

• 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."

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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