The inaugural Season of Squid Game came out on Netflix on September 17, 2021, and has nine episodes. It was a massive hit at the time and became a cultural phenomenon globally. The series returned with Season 2 on December 26, 2024, and it was equally successful. However, the sophomore season ended with episode 7 serving as the finale. In a new interview, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk explained the reasons behind the reduced number of episodes.
Hwang Dong-hyuk explains why Squid Game Season 2 Episode 7 was the finale
In a recent interview with Deadline, Hwang Dong-hyuk opened up about why Squid Game Season 2 concluded after Episode 7, unlike the first season, which had nine episodes. He also gave an important update about the third season.
“I wrote seasons two and three at the same time, and we were in production for both simultaneously, and currently we are in the post-production process for Season 3,” Hwang said.
The screenwriter explained that he felt the story had arrived at “an inflection point” after the end of the seventh episode and decided that it was the ideal place for a break. “That’s why I had first seven episodes as Season 2 and then the rest of Season 3,” he added.
Hwang also told CinemaBlend that his original plan was to wrap the storyline Seasons 2 and 3 in one series, but it gradually became infeasible due to the details of Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) journey after he returned to the game.
He commented on his reasons for stopping after Episode 7 during that interview as well. Notably, the second season ends with the catastrophic failure of the players’ revolt that Gi-hun led. Hwang noted that stopping after Episode 7 “would just be the right adequate moment to rest and have it continue on in the further season because after Gi-hun experiences that event, based on the failure, as well as that immense sense of guilt, you’re going to get yet another character arc from Gi-hun.”
Squid Game Season 3 can debut sometime in the summer or fall of 2025 (via Variety).
