What We Want To See In Squid Game Season 3

Contains spoilers for "Squid Game" Season 2

We had to wait for more than three years for the second season of "Squid Game" to hit Netflix, which felt like an eternity. The wait between Season 2 and Season 3 won't be anywhere near as long — the third season is projected to come out sometime in 2025 – but it's still going to be tough, particularly because of where the second season left off. Thanks to Season 2's cliffhanger ending, "Squid Game" fans have plenty of unanswered questions that they want answered.

If we're lucky, Season 3 will deliver some long-awaited payoff for certain plot threads left unresolved at the end of Season 2. For instance, there's one character who may get a chance at redemption, and another character who may not actually be dead. There are also some wild fan theories about Season 3 that might be true, and there's even a moment of foreshadowing from Season 1 that hasn't yet come to fruition. Here is everything we want to see in "Squid Game" Season 3.

The games are arguably the biggest part of the show's appeal, and Season 3 wouldn't be complete without them. Now that Gi-hun's rebellion has failed and the O voters likely outnumber the X voters, the games must go on. In fact, a post-credits scene at the end of "Squid Game" Season 2 has already given us a glimpse of one such game. The clip reveals that the Red Light, Green Light doll will be returning, except, this time, she has a friend: A new creepy doll named Cheol-su. The teaser also features railroad crossing lights flashing red and green, which could indicate a new version of Red Light, Green Light, or an entirely different game that has a train or trolley theme. Some have speculated the game might be the Korean schoolyard game Dong, Dong, Dongdaemun.

The paintings on the walls of the dorm room also offer clues about the upcoming games, just as they did in Season 1. Multiple viewers have pointed out that the dorm room in Season 2 is encircled with an illustration of players swinging from the ceiling, a pretty obvious sign that there will be a high-stakes game of monkey bars in Season 3. As well, the wall behind the bunk beds contains a checkerboard pattern, suggesting that we might see chess or another life-sized board game where people will be used as pieces. If so, Gi-hun may face a sticky moral dilemma; which "pawns" he must sacrifice for the greater good.

Believe it or not, Gi-hun still doesn't know that Hwang In-ho betrayed him. At the end of Season 2, Gi-hun still believes that Player 001 (who went by the fake name Oh Young-il, a name that means more than you realize) died a heroic death during the rebellion. It won't stay that way for long: Sooner or later, the truth will come out, and it will rock Gi-hun to his core. However, it's hard to predict how he will respond. Will the news break Gi-hun's spirit once and for all? Or will it give him the will to fight again, because he knows that the only reason "playing hero" failed was because Player 001 was working against him?

Given that Gi-hun and the Front Man are so central to the show's conflict (and its ideological implications), it seems inevitable that the two will face off in Season 3. Perhaps along the way, we will learn how much of the Front Man's behavior during the games was an act. Was everything a calculated move to mess with Gi-hun's mind, right down to In-ho nearly failing the spinning top challenge? Or did the Front Man genuinely start to doubt himself and maybe even sympathize with Gi-hun? Although the mind games that In-ho played with Gi-hun in Season 2 ended in tragedy, we hope the two will get the opportunity for a rematch in Season 3.

Although Season 2 of "Squid Game" revealed that Kim Jun-hee is pregnant, viewers will have to wait until Season 3 to see what happens when she gives birth. In Season 2, Geum-ja observes that the baby must be due soon, which means that, depending on how long the games will last, it's very likely Jun-hee will go into labor while the games are underway. Giving birth is hardly a walk in the park even under normal circumstances, but it will prove especially dangerous for Jun-hee if she goes into labor in the war zone of the dorm room or in the middle of a game.

If she does give birth to a healthy child, what then? Presumably, that would be an unprecedented scenario in the games. Will the pink guards take the baby away from her? Or will Jun-hee be expected to play the games with the little one in tow? If so, will the guards assign the baby its own number? Perhaps seeing the first-ever "Squid Game baby" will inspire many of the players to rally behind Jun-hee to keep her and the child alive. In fact, some viewers have speculated that if Gi-hun is going to die, it will be saving Jun-hee and her child. It would be the ultimate way to show that Gi-hun is no longer willing to sacrifice a few innocent lives for the good of the many.

While it seems like Park Gyeong-seok (aka Player 246) is killed after Gi-hun's failed rebellion, there is reason to hope that he's still alive and might eventually be reunited with his terminally-ill daughter. You'll notice that it's unclear where exactly the pink guard shoots Gyeong-seok, so it's possible he could have only been hit in the shoulder or leg (a trick the show already pulled once before with Jun-ho's apparent death). What's more, the episode conveniently cuts away before we can actually see Player 246's body (a twist the series already used once before with Il-nam's fake death).

Although Season 2 never confirms which pink guard pulls the trigger, a lot of fans are speculating that it's actually pink guard 011, No-eul. If so, it's quite possible she could have given him a non-fatal shot — not because she wants to let the other pink guards harvest his organs, but because she wants to spare his life until she can figure out a way to help him escape. (In fact, a possible spoiler accidentally revealed by Park Gyu-Young points to this theory).

No-eul clearly sympathizes with Player 246, because she knows him and his daughter from outside the games and because she, too, knows what it's like to have a young child whose chances of survival are slim. So here's hoping that No-eul will decide that, while it may be too late to save her long-lost daughter, it's not too late to save Gyeong-seok and his daughter. We would love to see a happy ending to this particular story in Season 3.

One of the most memorable twists in "Squid Game" Season 2 is the reveal that both a mother and her son have joined the games, each hoping that they can help the other with their prize money. This storyline immediately raises a haunting question: What if one of them (or both of them) doesn't make it out alive? While either one of them dying would be horrible, perhaps the worst outcome would be if Yong-sik died and his mother had to keep going without him. Geum-ja takes a moment in Season 2 to imagine this unthinkable scenario, telling her son, "Even if I did make it out, I'd have nothing left to live for anymore." Since Season 2 teased this possibility, it seems almost inevitable that it will play out in Season 3.

While this ending would be tragic, it would be fitting, especially because it would give Yong-sik a chance to redeem himself. After voting to continue the games despite his mother's warnings and nearly leaving her behind in the game of Mingle, Yong-sik could make up for his past mistakes, even if it means sacrificing his life to save his mother. This would be a fascinating reversal of the first season, in which Gi-hun joins the games to help his mother but he cannot save her. If Yong-sik does die, hopefully Geum-ja will find the strength to pick herself up after her loss — and maybe invite all the surviving players over for dinner.

As of Season 2, Gi-hun still hasn't been reunited with his daughter Ga-yeong. He hasn't even had a chance to say a proper goodbye; he tries calling her right before he re-enters the games but loses the nerve. And while Kang Cheol, Sae-byeok's little brother, is in a much better place than he was before his sister joined the games, his story isn't completely resolved. He is safe in the care of Sang-woo's mother, but we have yet to see if Gi-hun's effort to locate Choel's birth mother will pay off. As a result, many fans want to see the loose ends tied up for the loved ones that Gi-hun left behind when he returned to the games.

Season 2 goes out of its way to show Gi-hun paying a broker to find Cheol's mother and bring her across the border. So even if Gi-hun doesn't survive Season 3, it's possible that the broker will at least succeed in reuniting Cheol with his mother. Meanwhile, given that the Front Man keeps telling Gi-hun that he should've gotten on the plane to his daughter, it seems pretty clear that this storyline isn't over yet. It would be great to see Gi-hun get to finally be with his daughter. Or, if Gi-hun is going to sacrifice himself to stop the games, then we want to at least see Ga-yeong discover just how much her daddy has done for her.

Despite the best efforts of Gi-hun and Jun-ho, nobody believes them about the games, allowing the Front Man to continue to run them in secret. But if more people knew about these atrocities, it might spell the end of the games. Perhaps in Season 3, Jun-ho will finally get the evidence he's been after. However, getting the truth out may be easier said than done, considering that the VIPs are some of the richest and most powerful people in the world and they have gotten away with it for decades.

Even if Gi-hun does expose the games to the whole world, it still might not change anything. After all, the Front Man may have a point when he says the outside world is just as cruel as the games. When faced with the truth, the world might turn a blind eye, just like most people turned a blind eye to the homeless man in the street at the end of Season 1. According to the Front Man, "If the world doesn't change, the game doesn't end."

Still, we can dream, can't we? Although a happy ending seems unlikely for such a bleak story, it would be a hard-earned victory. Seeing Jun-ho finally bring back proof of the games in Season 3 and say "I told you so" would be satisfying indeed.

While it would be a blow for fans of the characters, narratively speaking, we would like to see Gi-hun become the Front Man in "Squid Game" Season 3 — or, at least, we want to see him seriously considering it. In a sense, he already started to become like the Front Man in Season 2, using people as pawns and deciding to sacrifice some of his fellow players in order to create a diversion. But maybe Season 3 will take it one step further, with In-ho offering Gi-hun the position of Front Man. And what's scary is that Gi-hun might be in such a dark place by then that he actually accepts the offer.

So how might Gi-hun become the Front Man in Season 3? Maybe this is a role that In-ho forces upon him, placing Gi-hun in a position where he needs to decide who lives and who dies (even though he doesn't want to). Or maybe Gi-hun accepts the position of his own volition. Maybe he becomes so disillusioned that he decides that In-ho is right; the games are ugly, but they give desperate people "one last chance to fight fair and win," as the Front Man puts it. Perhaps that is what the Front Man wanted all along, to groom Gi-hun to be his successor.

It's worth noting that, in an interview on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae could neither confirm nor deny the theory that Gi-hun would become the Front Man. But, regardless of how it plays out, Gi-hun will definitely face a choice in Season 3: Hang onto his faith in the goodness of humanity or start seeing the world through the Front Man's eyes.

After having seen In-ho betray Gi-hun at the end of Season 2, we wouldn't blame you for assuming that the Front Man is beyond redemption at this point. However, if you consider that In-ho is a former player who has come from the same place as Gi-Hun (and the fact that the Front Man has actually done some nice things in "Squid Game"), then a change of heart in Season 3 doesn't seem so far-fetched.

"Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has argued that, even though In-ho is trying to destroy Gi-hun's faith in the goodness of humanity, he still respects Gi-hun's boldness for returning to the games and is curious to see if Gi-hun might prove him wrong. "He really sees what he let go of and what he lost when he sees Gi-hun," Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter. "Secretly, he might even want Gi-hun to fight on." So, if Gi-hun wins his unspoken wager against the Front Man and helps as many players as possible survive the games, perhaps this could be enough to change In-ho's mind.

More than once, Hwang has compared the Front Man to Darth Vader, and it's easy to see the similarities — not just the black mask and deep voice, but also the way he foils Gi-hun, showing what would happen if Gi-hun had gone down a darker path. In fact, just like Vader, he is trying to lure Gi-hun down that darker path by testing to see if the games will break him. As such, it's possible that, like Darth Vader, the Front Man will realize he's made a mistake, and perhaps he will even sacrifice himself to make things right.

In a story, everything happens for a reason. The rule of Chekhov's gun argues that if a writer mentions a gun on the wall, then that gun needs to go off by the end of the story. In other words, every setup should have a payoff. In this case, the gun is actually a bomb. In Season 1 of "Squid Game," when Jun-ho is disguised as a pink guard, one of the organ harvesters shows him a secret passage designed for the VIPs to make a quick exit. We learn the escape route is equipped with a bomb that the VIPs can detonate on their way out, so they can destroy all traces of the games and walk away clean.

This detail appears to be a Chekhov's gun that "Squid Game" fans predict will go off at some point. One Reddit user pointed out that this setup never got a payoff in Season 1. "We never saw this again in this season so I am thinking they left it open to use in season 2?" wrote u/Atlantic789. Since this bomb wasn't mentioned even once in Season 2, we have to assume that's because the show's creators are saving it for Season 3. It's possible the bomb will go off at the end of the season, except hopefully it won't be the VIPs detonating it. Instead, maybe Gi-hun or Jun-ho gets to do the honors. It would certainly be a satisfying way to end the games once and for all.

One "Squid Game" theory that would change the competition suggests that maybe the games we see in the series are only the tip of the iceberg. After all, the VIPs come from across the globe to attend the Front Man's games, so what's to say there aren't dozens of other games just like it all over the world? In Season 1, one of the VIPs says, "The contest in Korea was the best," suggesting that there are other games that are not in Korea. All the games we see in "Squid Game" are games played by Korean children, so it's possible that other countries have games that are specific to their cultures. Even if Gi-hun puts an end to the Korean games by the end of Season 3, these games could still be happening all over the world. It would be sobering for Gi-hun to learn that he has only been scratching the surface.

Of course, if this concept isn't explored in Season 3, we might still see it in possible "Squid Game" spin-offs. In fact, director David Fincher has reportedly been in talks to work on a new project from the "Squid Game" universe. Perhaps this means we can expect to see a new series that follows another set of games happening in the United States. That would be a nice way to give "Squid Game" fans a chance to see more stories from this world even after Gi-hun's story is over.