The third season of Squid Game premieres on June 27, 2025, concluding a trilogy that has redefined the dystopian thriller on streaming platforms.
The saga, originally intended as a limited series, was extended thanks to the global success of the first two seasons, accumulating more than 168 million views at its launch.
Now, the audacious conclusion offers refined technical staging, extreme moral decisions, and psychological confrontations of global scope.
This season picks up from the events of the second season, immediately after the brutal suppression of the rebellion led by Seong Gi-hun.
The characters now face a sequence of trials that combine emotional anguish with escalating violence, with the addition of new team games, including team challenges and advanced psychological tests.
Decisive characters and narrative evolution
The identity of Hwang In-ho, the well-known front man played by Lee Byung-hun, is expanded with greater dramatic dimension. His strategic role returns with the goal of presenting a version of absolute control to the VIPs. In contrast, detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) intensifies his investigation, although his narrative is complicated by the presence of a traitor among his allies.
Among the survivors, notable figures include Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), whose transgender portrayal provides a layer of social realism and emotional leadership, and the mother-son duo of Geum-ja and Yong-sik, whose bonds are strained by impossible decisions. Also notable is Kim Jun-hee, whose pregnancy is expected to have even greater significance.
The season was filmed back-to-back with the previous one, allowing for aesthetic coherence and a continuous narrative flow. It maintains its style characterized by dehumanized childhood settings, surreal geometries, and a symbolist color palette, reinforced by distorted childhood music, such as the song "Mingle ," a culturally charged element.
Transmedia expansion strategies
The commitment to expanding the brand's impact includes a collaboration with Fortnite , which replicates iconic locations.
On the other hand, Netflix has confirmed three promotional trailers, following a strategy of growing expectations.
Furthermore, its massive reach has led to collaborations with many brands, which utilize its aesthetic, and street advertising, which includes actors wearing the series' signature outfits in everyday urban settings.
Six details revealed in the latest trailer
- A scene in which the main character asks why they let him live, which raises the uncertainty of why the game needs him to stay alive. His frustration at the failed rebellion attempt and the death of his friend is felt, but we can see that it will continue in the game.
- Player 44 appears in numerous scenes in the trailer, so fans of the series believe she'll have a significant role to play this season. She even appears to become Gi-hun's antagonist, or at least find herself on an opposing team at some point. She appears to lead a group that still believes in her powers.
- The new game featuring the doll and her boyfriend appears, which involves jumping a rope that the dolls move at high speed. This could be an equivalent to tug-of-war, since the players are on a kind of bridge; if the rope knocks them off, they'll fall into the void.
- Another game that appears is the key game, where there are two teams, blue and red. The latter are the hunters, tasked with eliminating the other team's players. The blue players are given keys to open doors in the maze and find a way out before being eliminated, both avoiding the traps. We can also see that mother and son are on opposite teams.
- You can see an image of the police officer entering one of the rooms designated for those watching the game. In the different trailers, the scene of him in that same room is always repeated, which can offer opposing views: on the one hand, thinking that he won't have much presence in this season either, on the other, imagining that something relevant will happen there and they don't want to give us any more details.
- The trailer ends with Gi-hun wearing a formal suit, and in past seasons, finalists wore one like this, so we can assume he'll make it to the finals and that the game couldn't be stopped before then. The phrase "Do you still have faith in people?" is also heard, suggesting that this season will feature more than one event designed to depict betrayal and survival at the expense of others, seeking to demonstrate what the creator of these games wanted to demonstrate: that people are, in fact, evil.
The ethical and narrative outcome
Hwang Dong-hyuk has reiterated that this ending will explore the conflict between the valorization of individual conscience, systemic failure, and the manipulation of social capital.
The final confrontation is expected to be between Gi-hun and In-ho with a deep emotional charge.
This third season represents the closing of the story with new challenges, an intensification of the moral debate and a spectacular visual display,
Squid Game is establishing itself as a phenomenon that transcends entertainment, inviting conversations about the human condition under extreme stress and the limits of instinct, the desire for survival, and greed.
June 27, 2025 promises a definitive and unforgettable experience.
