Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead for Squid Game Season 3
Squid Game was a global phenomenon that defied expectations, expanding from a director’s original film concept into a multi-season television event. Following its massive success, which garnered nearly 600 million views before its final season, the acclaimed dystopian drama returned for a third and conclusive chapter. This season plunged back into the brutal games, picking up immediately after the failed rebellion led by Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) in the Season 2 finale. Defeated but not broken, Gi-hun and his remaining allies re-enter the arena with a singular, desperate goal: to end the deadly competition from the inside.
This wasn’t just about survival; it was a fight for humanity against a system designed to strip it away. With six final episodes, Squid Game Season 3 delivered a devastating yet profoundly hopeful conclusion. Let’s break down the shocking deaths, surprising twists, and the ultimate winner of the final game.
The Deadly Gauntlet: Who Dies in Season 3?
True to form, Squid Game Season 3 maintained the series’ brutal tradition, with most contestants meeting a grim end. Entering the games, the pool of survivors included Seong Gi-hun (Player 456), trans woman Hyun-ju (Player 120), mother-son duo Geum-ja (Player 149) and Yong-sik (Player 007), pregnant contestant Jun-hee (Player 222) and her ex Myung-gi (Player 333), timid Min-su (Player 125), strategist Nam-gyu (Player 124), shaman Seon-nyeo (Player 044), former marine Dae-ho (Player 388), and the calculating Player 100.
Round 4: Knives vs. Keys
This round was a bloody game of survival where players were divided. “Knives” had to kill a “Key” to advance, while “Keys” simply had to stay alive.
Hyun-ju (Player 120): Killed by Myung-gi (Player 333), despite his promise to protect her friend Jun-hee (Player 222).
Dae-ho (Player 388): Murdered by a vengeful Gi-hun, who blamed him for the Season 2 rebellion’s failure. Gi-hun choked him, saying, “It’s your fault.”
Seon-nyeo (Player 044): Killed by Min-su (Player 125), who was hallucinating under the influence of drugs after being betrayed by Player 100.
Yong-sik (Player 007): Tragically killed by his own mother, Geum-ja (Player 149), who stabbed him with her hairpiece to protect Jun-hee when Yong-sik, a Knife, turned on her.
Geum-ja (Player 149): After killing her son, Geum-ja couldn’t bear the guilt. She instructed Gi-hun to protect Jun-hee and her baby before taking her own life that night.
During this round, Jun-hee also gave birth.
Round 5: Jump Rope
Players faced a treacherous walkway high above a deadly fall, forced to cross while avoiding a swinging rope.
Nam-gyu (Player 124): Died early in this round.
Jun-hee (Player 222): Injured from childbirth, Jun-hee made a heartbreaking choice. Knowing she couldn’t make it across the walkway without slowing down Gi-hun, who was carrying her newborn baby, she chose to jump to her death. This sacrifice ensured Gi-hun and the baby had a chance to survive.
The Front Man’s Identity and a Corrupt Offer
A major question leading into Season 3 was when Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), revealed in Season 2 as both the Front Man and the original Player 001, would reveal his true identity to Gi-hun. This happened before the final round.
Summoned to the Front Man’s office, Gi-hun was given a knife. In-ho, removing his mask, proposed a shocking path to victory: Gi-hun should murder the remaining contestants, including the newborn baby, in their sleep. This would allow Gi-hun and the baby (the ‘survivors’) to “vote” to end the game and split the winnings. Gi-hun was furious, questioning why In-ho would suggest this.
Through flashbacks, it’s revealed this is exactly how In-ho won his own game: killing the others while they slept. He saw it as the logical, inevitable choice in the Game’s brutal system. By proposing it to Gi-hun, In-ho wasn’t just offering a way out; he was trying to validate his own past actions and bring Gi-hun down to his level. Gi-hun’s steadfast refusal became a powerful challenge to In-ho’s cynical worldview, suggesting that another path, a humane one, was possible.
The Final Game: Game of Towers
The brutal final round required players to navigate three enormous towers, killing one competitor on each tower to advance. Any remaining players at the end would split the prize money.
Entering this round were Gi-hun, the baby (now Player 222), Myung-gi (Player 333), Player 100, and Player 039. Driven by greed, the other players, particularly Myung-gi and Player 100, saw Gi-hun, the baby, and Min-su as easy targets. Min-su (Player 125), affected by drugs, was the first pushed off the edge after a staged “vote.”
As Gi-hun fought back to protect the baby, chaos erupted among the remaining players. Myung-gi proved particularly ruthless, eventually pushing Player 100 to his death to increase his share of the winnings. Tired of the game’s horror, Player 039 chose to jump to his own death, leaving only Gi-hun, the baby, and Myung-gi on the final tower.
Does Gi-hun Die? The Ultimate Sacrifice
Yes, Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) dies in the final round of Squid Game Season 3.
On the final tower, Myung-gi revealed himself as the baby’s father but, consumed by greed, attempted to kill his own child for the prize money. Gi-hun fought him fiercely, using the knife In-ho had given him. In the struggle, Myung-gi fell to his death. However, a crucial rule came into play: deaths on this final tower only counted towards eliminating a player if a button on the ground was pressed to officially start the round. Myung-gi died before the button was pressed.
This left Gi-hun with an impossible choice: press the button and kill the baby to win, or sacrifice himself so the baby could live. To the utter astonishment of the VIPs watching, Gi-hun chose the latter.
Holding the baby, he stared towards the VIP viewing room, though he couldn’t see them. Then, turning away, he spoke his final, iconic words, not for the VIPs, but seemingly for the audience: “We are not horses. We are humans.” Placing the baby safely on the ground, Player 456 fell to his death.
Gi-hun’s sacrifice was an ultimate act of humanity. He refused to play by the Game’s dehumanizing rules, affirming the inherent worth of even the most vulnerable life. His choice profoundly shook the Front Man, delivering a powerful answer to In-ho’s earlier question about whether Gi-hun, or humanity, still had faith in people.
Who Wins Squid Game Season 3?
In a shocking twist, Player 222, a newborn baby, wins Squid Game Season 3.
Due to the rules of the final game and Gi-hun’s sacrifice, the baby was the only participant left alive after the final round was officially completed (by Gi-hun pressing the button as he fell). This unexpected outcome was intended by creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to symbolize hope – the future generation inheriting a world shaped by the preceding struggles, highlighting the responsibility to leave them a better place.
Beyond the Games: Fates of Key Characters
While the main game concluded, the finale resolved several key storylines:
Jun-ho and the Front Man: Detective Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun), whose search for his brother led him to the island, was crucial in alerting the Coast Guard. This was facilitated by former pink suit soldier No-eul (Park Gyu-young) who had rescued an escaped Player 246. Jun-ho reached the VIP viewing room just as In-ho collected the winning baby, activating the island’s self-destruct. Though Jun-ho confronted In-ho, he couldn’t bring himself to shoot his brother, instead asking “Why?” In-ho escaped with the baby. Six months later, In-ho left the baby and the 4.56 billion won winnings at Jun-ho’s apartment, suggesting a desire for them to have a better life, despite their fractured relationship.
No-eul’s Path: No-eul survived the island’s destruction, having helped save Player 246 (Gyeong-seok) and destroying evidence of Gi-hun’s escape. Witnessing Gi-hun’s sacrifice reignited her hope and convinced her to live. Six months later, she visited the now-safe Gyeong-seok and his healthy daughter, unrecognized in her civilian clothes. A hopeful call informed her that her own missing daughter might be alive in China, setting her on a new journey – a stark contrast to Gi-hun’s hesitant departure in Season 1.
Sae-byeok’s Wish: A poignant outcome saw Sae-byeok’s (Jung Ho-yeon) younger brother, Cheol, finally reunited with their North Korean mother in South Korea, cared for by Sang-woo’s mother (to whom Gi-hun had entrusted him). This fulfilled a crucial part of Sae-byeok’s motivation for entering the Game.
Gi-hun’s Legacy to His Daughter: The Front Man, In-ho, took Gi-hun’s substantial Season 1 winnings and traveled to Los Angeles. There, he delivered the money and Gi-hun’s bloody Player 456 uniform to Gi-hun’s estranged daughter, Ga-yeong, informing her of her father’s death. This act, seemingly unnecessary for In-ho, hinted at a possible change within him, perhaps influenced by Gi-hun’s final, selfless choice.
The Game Continues? Hints of an American Spin-off
The final scene offered a chilling possibility. Six months after the island’s destruction, the Front Man was in Los Angeles when he heard the familiar sound of the ddakji game. He saw a recruiter (played by Cate Blanchett) playing the recruitment game with a potential contestant in an alley. The two shared a significant glance.
This scene strongly implies that the Squid Game is not confined to one island or one country and suggests the possibility of a version played in America, aligning with previous reports about an English-language Squid Game series being in development. Despite the events of Season 3, the cycle of recruitment and deadly games continues elsewhere.
A Hopeful, Not Happy, Ending
Squid Game Season 3 does not offer a traditionally happy ending. The system the Game represents – a world driven by ruthless capitalism and inequality where human lives are commodified – persists. As the episode title, “Humans are…” suggests, the series leaves viewers contemplating human nature.
However, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk instilled the ending with hope. Despite the pervasive corruption, greed, and vengeance depicted, acts of profound care, sacrifice, and faith in humanity emerged. Gi-hun, despite his flaws and even committing murder earlier in the season, ultimately chose to affirm life and protect the most vulnerable, embodying a powerful resistance against the dehumanizing system.
His sacrifice, and the survival and hopeful futures hinted at for characters like No-eul and Jun-ho, suggest that even when individual heroism cannot dismantle systemic evil, the capacity for goodness and the fight for a better future remain. The ending isn’t a victory over the system, which continues, but a victory of* humanity within it. It’s a brutal, gutting conclusion that challenges viewers to consider their own place in the systems critiqued by the show.
