Squid Game Season 3: Everything We Know So Far

After two successful seasons, "Squid Game" is set to come to a rip-roaring conclusion with its third season in 2025. Fans have been waiting with bated breath to find out if Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) will succeed in his endless human chess match against Hwang In-ho, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who has killed so many of his friends and put Gi-hun's life in peril dozens of times as he plays the titular Squid Game, a set of children's activities and contests that have been modified to become dangerous and deadly. 

In-ho has continued a long tradition of Front Men who have run the games over the years, since the 1980s a least. The ultimate question will come down to who will win — the kind Gi-hun or the disaffected In-ho? While there's no telling either way as of this writing, things were not going well for Gi-hun when we last saw him.

When will the third and final season of "Squid Game" be on Netflix? Who will star in it, what will it be about, and what can you watch while you wait for more of the series? Here's everything you need to know about "Squid Game" Season 3.

The third season of "Squid Game" will debut on June 27, 2025. Presumably the whole season will arrive on Netflix at midnight that evening, with all episodes arriving on the streamer at the same time like all previous releases of the series. So that means you can binge the whole season overnight, or take your time with it and  watch slowly. It all depends on how you want your final (for now) "Squid Game" experience to go. The season will be released on a Friday morning, a full week ahead of the Fourth of July three-day weekend, which means audiences can experience the summertime blues right along with Gi-hun.

Fortunately, fans won't have to worry about production delays; Season 2 and Season 3 were filmed in immediate succession, to better take advantage of Season 2's huge cliffhanger. It's a tightly-held secret as to just what will happen after that shocking final episode, but at least audiences won't have to keep on waiting and wondering about what happens next. 

One can expect Season 3 of "Squid Game" to pick up right where it left off at the foot of Season 2 — with Gi-hun coping with the results of his failed rebellion, the death of Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), and the fact that he is now at the Front Man's mercy. And Gi-hun still has no idea that The Front Man entered the second game as Young-il and cozied up to him, pretending to be an ally. Preview images of Gi-hun handcuffed to a gurney and sporting a bloody face hint at the direction of the season. 

The Front Man bears a secret of his own, of course — he is actually Hwang In-ho, brother of Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who entered the previous games to find him, only to learn the horrifying truth. Presumably, Season 3 will bring about the ultimate clash between good and evil while confirming whether fans' theories that Gi-hun will become the next Front Man pan out. 

And what about those wealthy patrons who have been spending their time and cash funding these deadly games? "They're coming. They're on the way. Their chopper is flying over the island now," series director, writer and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk promised USA Today. He also joked that some familiar Hollywood faces like Leonardo DiCaprio might become a part of Season 3, which would definitely make the show look a lot different. He also promised the season will explain how the seemingly kindhearted Hwang In-ho became the Front Man. And at least one cast member hinted that fans are going to be heartbroken, so expect plenty of key character deaths. "Season 3 will make you break into tears," Kang Ae-sim (Geum-ja) teased on X (formerly Twitter). 

Naturally, Lee Jung-jae will be back as the rebellious and good-hearted Seong Gi-hun. Fans can also expect Lee Byung-hun to return as the complex but brooding The Front Man. At least some of the contestants — the ones who didn't join Gi-hun's rebellion and thus are still alive — will likely be back, including Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim), Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), Seon-nyeo (Chae Kook-hee) Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), Kang Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) and Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri). 

It's also very likely that characters like Captain Park (Oh Dal-su), who aren't currently part of the games but play a major role in the investigation of them, will appear. As of press time there haven't been any new cast additions, but since those millionaires are on the move, they might be expected to show up. Perhaps the games are hiding new secrets — or perhaps it will all come down to a handful of combatants. Either way, Season 3 will reveal all in June and bring the "Squid Game" timeline to an end.

This one has an easy answer – Hwang Dong-hyuk has directed every episode of "Squid Game" since its inception, and probably did direct all of the third season. Dong-hyuk is a dynamo when it comes to the series, creating the show as well as executive producing it and acting as showrunner. 

While Dong-hyuk started out as a screenwriter, he admitted he originally wanted to direct films. "Squid Game" is obviously a step in that direction, but the stress of filming the drama definitely wore on him. He lost roughly nine teeth while filming the first season, and went through enough stress filming the second that he joked that he was tired of the show. What convinced him to take on more directing work for the series? A pay bump. "Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn't make much. So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too," he told The BBC. Seong Gi-hun would approve.

Hwang Dong-hyuk has also written every single episode of "Squid Game" since its inception, and will presumably do the same thing for Season 3. He also serves as the showrunner and executive producer, joined by Kim Ji-yeon, who produces for Siren Pictures.

While he's certainly prosperous now, it wasn't always that way for Dong-hyuk — which is ultimately what motivated him to create "Squid Game." "I couldn't get an investment, so — tired and broke — I went to comic book stores or comic book cafes as we call them in Korea, and I read a lot of comic books about survival games and gambling," he told Creative Screenwriting. "I was so helplessly broke, I thought if I could earn this prize [45.6 billion won] I myself would have joined those games. So I thought about making my own survival game and that's how I started writing 'Squid Game.'" Fortunately, his creative bet has paid off, but time will tell if his creation has staying power.

"Squid Game," as fans who are obsessed with the series well know, is not a show intended for tots. Season 1 and Season 2 were rated TV-MA due to the copious amount of blood and gory violence the contestants are subjected to. People are blatantly murdered onscreen, and that can come down to anything from a simple gunshot to something far more visceral. There's also some implied sexual content, brief nudity, implied sexual assault and attempted rape. There's plenty of explicit language on display as well — completely understandable when one considers the environment the characters are dwelling in.

There's also a very mild amount of substance abuse, with some characters smoking and drinking and Thanos' (T.O.P.) addiction issues. It's not something families can enjoy as a group — but it's definitely an entertaining go-round for older teens and adults who have strong stomachs.

It's not quite a cinematic canon, but there's definitely a larger, sprawling "Squid Game"-based universe out there. Netflix greenlit a reality show called "Squid Game: The Challenge," a thankfully not-deadly game show version of the series featuring contestants competing in less-than-scary versions of the contests as seen on the show.

While "The Challenge" was renewed for a second season, it was met with some controversy: a small number of contestants threatened to sue Netflix after they claimed there were multiple on-set injuries. Although Netflix eventually confirmed that three players were treated for injuries out of a field of 456 competitors, they said that the working environment was safe. But multiple contestants spoke out, complaining of physical pain and frigid temperatures they were forced to endure, as well as a lack of food and overwhelmed staff. In any event, no actual lawsuits have sprung up from the experience and the quasi-spinoff continues to move along.

Naturally, it would be a good idea to watch the first two seasons of "Squid Game" before you jump into the third, especially because the second season leads into Season 3 so strongly. If you don't rewatch it, then large chunks of Seong Gi-hun's story will make no sense.

Once you've enjoyed all of the agonies and ecstasies life in the Squid Game has to offer, you might want to watch "Squid Game: The Challenge." Controversial or not, the series offers up more of the same thrills, games and other trappings that make "Squid Game" so compelling. It's unlikely that a second season of "The Challenge" will emerge before a third round of its fictional counterpart, so it should be an easy binge from there. And once you polish that off, you might want to keep your eyes peeled to see if the real-life, immersive Squid Game: The Experience is open anywhere near you. At least until rumors of that "Squid Game" prequel pan out.

If you want to watch all three seasons of "Squid Game," you currently have only one option, and that's to get a Netflix subscription. It's the only place you'll be able to stream the full saga as well as "Squid Game: The Challenge" for the foreseeable future. Subs start at $7.99 a month, and it will give you ad-supported access to a treasure trove of nail-biting episodes that would leave The Front Man green with envy.

As of this writing, the show isn't available on physical media yet, and Netflix isn't selling individual episodes of its show to non-subscribers. So those who truly want to have it all regarding the franchise will have to stay digital-only for the time being. But since other hit Netflix series like "Stranger Things" ultimately made their way onto home video, one can never predict the future. Perhaps fans will get to have their own physical copies of the show soon enough.