Even Squid Game's Lead Actor Has An Issue With Season 2's Ending
"How could you end the season at that point?"
Spoiler alert: This post discusses Squid Game Season 2’s finale episode.
At the end of Season 2, Squid Game abruptly pulled viewers out of the competition. As the number of remaining contestants began to narrow, Gi-hun convinced a handful of his followers to attempt a coup. Unfortunately for him, one of these allies was really his enemy in disguise. Having unknowingly filled the game-runner Front Man in on his plan, the masked boss put an end to the rebellion and killed Gi-hun’s best friend Jung-bae as punishment. Then, the season ends.
The cliffhanger may be frustrating for some fans. In Season 1, we got to see the entirety of the squid game play out, but this time around, the season ended in the middle of a game still in progress. Season 2 is also two episodes shorter than the first season, and it ends with Gi-hun’s fate hanging in the balance.
Even Lee Jung-jae, the actor who portrays Gi-hun, was initially unsure if this ending was a good idea. "My first reaction was, 'How could you end the season at that point?'" Lee told Entertainment Weekly. "I think the audience would be dying to know what's going to happen next and some may be very angry, actually. Some may even curse that it's ending on such a cliffhanger. But I realized that a lot of people nowadays actually love bold cliffhangers."
Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk did originally envision Season 2 and 3 as one story, but when it became too long to be just one season, he had to find a place to break it in half. While he echoed Lee’s concern that fans may be antsy over such a large cliffhanger, he explained why he picked that moment to be the finale.
"I thought that that would be just the right moment to end the story," Hwang said. "Of course, those watching would feel like, 'Oh, no. What's going to happen next? Give us the next episode right now.' But I think that because, at that moment, Gi-hun loses everything, he fails all of his attempts, that is when he goes through yet another character transition. So, I thought that was the best place to end the season."
Thankfully, fans won’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next. Squid Game’s third and final season is confirmed to premiere in 2025.
