Squid Games, the hit Netflix series known for its twisted plot, set new viewership records on the streaming platform with its second season. Continuing right after season one, the new installment saw Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who won the game return to track the people behind these heinous crimes and end it all from within by teaming up with the police only to find himself back in the arena with no allies.
However, the violent finale has left people in splits after Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) puts a bullet in Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan)’s head who is the only ally Seong Gi-hun had. Why did the finale end on such an unsettling note? The mastermind behind the show has answered the question so read on to find out!
Lee Byung-hun dives into the nuances of portraying the Front Man, In-ho, and Young-il (001) pic.twitter.com/0tzcjWX8cW
— Squid Game (@squidgame) January 2, 2025
Squid Games creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently opened up to THR about the fate of the series saying, “I believe I’ve had closure to the story I wanted to tell about society through the character of Seong Gi-hun.” The critically acclaimed series will be coming back for another season, but that will be the last of it.
Dong-hyuk explained how the Front Man and Gi-hun are similar in a way. When asked if the Front Man had any sympathy for the man trying to break the games, the creator explained that they were more or less the same. Much like Gi-hun, he also came from rock bottom, faced many cruelties, and saw the very end of humanity. “That’s how he became a host. Much like the story of Darth Vader who couldn’t become a Jedi,” he explained.
Dong-hyuk revealed his thought process during the writing of the second season of Squid Games to Variety, adding how it will lead into the final season. He explained that the entire concept of the second season was to show Gi-hun’s recurring failed attempts to break the games from within. The first attempt was to get the mercenaries and trying to plant a tracking device after which Gi-hun then tries to persuade people to leave the game via the voting system which fails too. Lastly, he tries to start a rebellion which ends up falling flat as well.
So all of his failures lead to this heavy, heavy crisis of having to lose his very best friend, Jung-bae, at the hands of The Front Man. And when you think about Gi-hun’s journey, I thought that that was an adequate moment to put a stop and give him a little bit of closure along that long story arc. And then from that moment on, in the third season, having that sense of huge guilt and sense of failure weighing heavily on him — how is Gi-hun going to carry on his mission? That’s the story that’ll further unfold.
Dong-Hyuk strongly believes that he has found the end to Squid Games as he is done telling the story through Gi-hun’s character. But is that the end of this famous thriller series? Well, no. The director hints that if he ever revisits the world of Squid Games, he will introduce new characters and story arcs, saying, “For example, the masked guards. How did they end up here? What do they do in their downtime? Something like that, maybe.”