Squid Game Season 3 Theories So Good They Might Be True

After Season 1 broke records and spawned numerous social media trends and memes, fans had to wait more than three years to finally see "Squid Game" Season 2. The new episodes didn't disappoint even if it felt like half a story, with a major cliffhanger setting up the show's third and final season. Fortunately, fans won't have to wait as long to see how everything plays out, as Netflix has already confirmed "Squid Game" Season 3 will come out at some point in 2025. The ending of "Squid Game" Season 2 left Seong Gi-hun's (Lee Jung-jae) rebellion in tatters, so it's evident the games will continue, at least for the time being. But what else might be on the table?

There's plenty we'd like to see in "Squid Game" Season 3, but there's the question of what's actually feasible. The show contains such intricate plotting and foreshadowing, as well as individual arcs for the main characters. Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told The Hollywood Reporter, "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?"

That statement leaves a lot open to interpretation, but there's plenty throughout the first two seasons to hint at what's to come. We've scoured the internet for the best "Squid Game" Season 3 fan theories that seem like they have the likeliest shot at happening. Season 3 will be here soon enough, but for now, let's speculate wildly.

This is easily the most popular "Squid Game" Season 3 theory out there. We know from Season 1 that Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun) won the games in 2015; however, at some point, he decided to stay behind and become the current Front Man overseeing the competition. In Season 2, he actually competes under the pseudonym Oh Young-il as Player 001. He befriends Gi-hun, and while one could argue this is him trying to quell a rebellion from the inside, it's possible he's also grooming Gi-hun to take his place as the new Front Man. 

Gi-hun has devoted years to dismantling the games and stopping more people from losing their lives. However, before leading the rebellion, Gi-hun admits to In-ho that a few people will have to die to save even more. Gi-hun has already compromised on his morals, believing that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It's possible Gi-hun might even end up believing he can do some good as a Front Man by changing the rules so that more people live by the end. Or he might realize how awful humans are and decide that they deserve such fates. 

Season 2 also introduces the shaman Seon-nyeo (Chae Kook-hee), who tells Gi-hun, "You feel frozen, unable to leave or stay. Your fate is undecided." It's possible Gi-hun will eventually feel frozen by the offer of becoming the new Front Man, when he has to choose between leaving this world forever or staying and trying to make the best out of a bad situation. 

"Squid Game" Season 2 changes things up by letting us spend time with a pink soldier named No-eul (Park Gyu-young). Her sole purpose is to reunite with her child, but before the games start, we see her develop a bond with a young girl suffering from blood cancer. The girl's father, Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook) — aka Player 246 — winds up in the games presumably to pay for her treatment. He eventually joins Gi-hun's rebellion, and the last time we see him, a pink guard corners and shoots him. 

This would seem to be the end of Player 246 and any hope of his little girl getting proper medical treatment, but some fans think something else is afoot. It's possible the guard that shot him was actually No-eul (we never see the guard's face). The camera is positioned behind Gyeong-seok, so we don't get a great look at where exactly he gets shot. We know from Red Light, Green Light that No-eul is an expert sniper, so it's possible she shoots him in a way that's not fatal. The other guards would simply put him in a box and, upon realizing he's still alive, take him to the organ harvesting room. 

This would allow No-eul to keep someone she likes alive, while also getting back on her boss' good side after she earlier kills anyone left alive so that their organs won't be taken. No-eul may then plan in Season 3 to get both herself and Gyeong-seok off the island. She may not be able to get back with her kid, but she can at least make sure another child doesn't lose their parent. 

"Squid Game" Season 1 had six games total. Season 2 only presented three, meaning there are presumably three still to come in Season 3. A small detail from Season 2 that you might have missed is that the walls once again hint at what games are to come. By the looks of it, two of them might involve monkey bars and some kind of board game, probably chess or checkers. That means there's one game remaining, and it'll probably involve the two dolls seen in the Season 2 post-credits scene. A boy doll has now joined the girl doll in the arena — what could this mean? 

At first, many folks online thought they would play a game patterned after the mursey rhyme "Jack and Jill," but that's not really known in Korea. A far more convincing fan theory is that the remaining game will be dong dong dongdaemun, which seems more plausible because it's actually a Korean game, and would make good use of the two large dolls. 

It's basically a version of London Bridge, in which two people hold hands to form a bridge. Everyone else goes underneath the hands while the "Dong Dong Dongdaemun" song plays, and at the end of the song, the two forming the bridge bring their arms down, catching whoever's underneath. Two giant dolls making the bridge certainly seems likely, and they could even bring down something heavy or sharp onto whoever's unlucky enough to be caught underneath them.

"Squid Game" Season 2 ends with the reveal that Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) is related to the games somehow, as he's caught sabotaging a drone and kills a mercenary to cover his tracks. His true intentions should have always been evident, as there was a clue hidden in plain sight that Captain Park knew more than he let on. It also makes sense why Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) has been unable to find the island, as Captain Park undoubtedly keeps him away. Yet what if Captain Park isn't just another worker, but a former winner who now labors to keep the games running?

There's even evidence to back this up. In Season 1, Jun-ho found an archive of previous winners, which is how he knows his brother won in 2015. However, the winner in 1990 was someone named Park Pil-sam. This could very well be our Captain Park, although Park is a very common Korean surname. Captain Park's boat also has the number "122" on the side, and the archives show that Player 122 won in 2006. He could be either of these winners, and just like In-ho, decided after winning to work for the games. 

Not only would this explain Captain Park's motivations, but it would also lend credence to the fan theory that Gi-hun will become the new Front Man. Winning these games clearly creates some level of obsession and disillusionment among former victors that draws them back in. 

"Squid Game" Season 1 brings in a group of VIPs to watch the games with giddy delight. While Season 2 doesn't explicitly show any of the VIPs, it's possible one has been hiding under our noses the entire time. 

Some fans speculate that Park Min-su (Lee David) is secretly VIP 3, the one who wore the deer mask in the first season. The main piece of evidence for this is admittedly flimsy, but the reasoning is that VIP 3 was played by an actor named David Lee. Naturally, these could also just be two different people with kind of similar names, but it's possible that either way there's more to Min-su than meets the eye. 

He's pretty timid throughout Season 2 in stark contrast to the bombastic nature of the VIPs, but he survives for a long time. Min-su even gets saved by In-ho at one point, which would make sense that the Front Man would look out for a VIP. He stays out of the way when the big fight breaks out since a VIP wouldn't want to be in any actual danger, and he allows Player 380 (Won Ji-an) to die. Keeping him alive for this long when, by all accounts, he should be dead at this point may mean he's harboring some secrets, even if he's not a VIP.

Unless Gi-hun fails in his mission to end the games or has a change of heart and decides to continue them, there will again be only one winner by the end of Season 3. One way or another, more bloodshed is on the way, and some fans think an interesting wrinkle would be for Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), aka Player 222, to give birth – and for her baby to be the final winner. 

Throughout the games, the Front Man seems particularly protective over Jun-hee. He makes sure she's feeling well and even offers her his milk so that she has more strength for the baby. And while "Squid Game" is known for being brutal, killing a pregnant woman and/or her infant may be a step too far. Bringing a pregnant woman into the games just feels like a "Chekhov's gun" scenario where, somewhat inevitably, she has to give birth at some point. All of the stress may cause her to go into labor, and her baby could become yet another participant who remains alive by the end. 

An alternative is that if Gi-hun doesn't become the new Front Man, perhaps In-ho will realize the error of his ways when Jun-hee gets in jeopardy. Seeing a baby get wrapped up in the games may be too much for him, and he could call for the games to end to protect the child. With a pregnant woman in the mix, "Squid Game" Season 3 could have either a very optimistic or cynical conclusion. 

The so-called "milk theory" on "Squid Game" suggests the entire competition might be a family affair. In Season 1, Gi-hun gives his milk away, saying he can't drink it. When Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), aka Player 001, sees this, he remarks that Gi-hun reminds him of his son, who also couldn't drink milk. By the season finale, we learn Il-nam is actually the games' creator, and when Season 2 comes around, Player 001 of the new games is the Front Man, In-ho. 

The Front Man actually has a rather nice moment when he gives Jun-hee his milk for her baby, insisting he can't drink it anyway. This has led some online to believe that In-ho is actually Il-nam's son. It would make sense that Il-nam would want a family member he could trust to oversee his legacy once he was gone, especially when he entered the games himself and needed even more protection. However, there's one tiny caveat to this. 

In-ho won the games in 2015 to pay for his wife's medical treatments. If his father oversees the games, surely they would have enough money to pay for them without In-ho going into debt, right? Maybe his father wanted him to learn some important lessons about money and how the world isn't fair, making him compete to earn the right to save her life. There's also the matter of In-ho being in Il-nam's hospital room when he dies, suggesting the two might have some kind of connection even if it isn't strictly familial. 

"Squid Game" Season 2 brings a lot of interesting new character dynamics into the mix, with arguably none as engaging as the mother-son duo of Park Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), aka Player 007, and Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim), aka Player 149. It remains to be seen if more than one person will make it out of this specific competition alive, but one thing fans feel certain of is Yong-sik will die, probably while trying to save his mother. 

It's the only natural conclusion to his character arc. He enters the game for the same reason as pretty much everyone else — to pay off massive debts. However, unbeknownst to him, his mother also competes to help him pay off his debts, making her one of the most altruistic people there. Once everyone realizes these games are literally a matter of life and death, Geum-ja just wants to go home, but Yong-sik wants to keep playing initially, putting his mother in harm's way. 

Over the course of Season 2, Yong-sik learns to be far more protective and appreciate his mother more. He begins voting to exit the games, so it would only make sense, with the games continuing, for him to sacrifice himself to save her. In the event that more than one person makes it out alive, Geum-ja — as a representative of how good humanity can be — is a strong candidate to be one of the survivors. 

Another intriguing factor that could come into play — which would fit right at home with the show's theme that there's no way to win in capitalism — is the trolley problem. 

This is a philosophical concept revolving around who a person would be willing to kill or let die. If five people are tied to a track with a train heading toward them, would you be willing to pull a lever to divert the train to just one person? It's a theory that has some evidence behind it, since the post-credits scene includes a train signal that changes from red to green. This does conjure up images of Red Light, Green Light, but perhaps it's merely a stylistic tool to make viewers think of the trolley problem. 

Assuming the dolls are part of dong dong dongdaemun, maybe players will have to move underneath the bridge while a song plays. With this in mind, the Front Man may be keeping Gi-hun alive so that he would be the one to decide when the music stops and who gets killed. The Front Man could literally give Gi-hun his own trolley problem, so that he has to determine who he thinks should live and die. 

Although "Squid Game" is ending after Season 3, Netflix apparently wants to milk this cash cow for all it's worth. An American version of the show is said to be in the works, with the streamer reportedly courting David Fincher to direct. It's also possible that this wouldn't necessarily be a remake, but a look at how widespread these games have become, with similar tournaments happening around the globe. And it's possible Season 3 could give us our first glimpse of them. 

Using Season 3 as a way to expand the lore could be a way for the show to have its cake and eat it, too. It's possible Gi-hun is successful in dismantling the Korean version of these games. He may not succumb to the dark side and refuse to become the new Front Man, saving a bunch of lives in the process. But it could all be for naught: Gi-hun may end up destroying only a small part of the games, with other versions taking place in other countries. 

This would be in line with the show's greater themes about how difficult it is to escape capitalism. Even if you think you catch a break, there are a million other atrocities taking place at any given moment. Netflix probably wouldn't mind if this theory came to pass because it would stir excitement for whatever "Squid Game" projects they have in the pipeline.