Squid Game Season 3 (2025)
In the aftermath of the failed rebellion, the fragile alliances within the Squid Game collapsed into blood and betrayal. Kang No-eul, who had feigned cooperation with the organ traffickers to gain access to their operating room, revealed her true intent in a shocking act of deception. She non-fatally shot Player 246, Gyeong-seok, not out of loyalty to the traffickers but as part of her desperate ploy to save him. While Seong Gi-hun was returned alive to the dormitory, the full cost of the uprising became painfully clear: every rebel except for Cho Hyun-ju and Kang Dae-ho had been executed. Another vote was held on whether to end the games, but once again the surviving players chose to continue.
Gi-hun, reeling from trauma and anger, placed the blame for the rebellion’s failure squarely on Dae-ho, whose promises of leadership and experience now seemed hollow. The players were led past the hanged corpses of their fallen comrades, a chilling reminder of the price of defiance, before being forced into the next twisted contest. This time, it was a deadly variation of Hide-and-Seek. Some would be hiders, tasked with finding and unlocking exits using three different keys, while others became taggers, armed hunters assigned to track and kill them.
Before the game, tensions boiled over. Dae-ho accused Gi-hun of crafting a reckless plan that doomed the rebels, while Gi-hun shot back that Dae-ho’s cowardice had ensured their deaths. Meanwhile, alliances shifted: Geum-ja and Jun-hee exchanged roles with Myung-gi and Yong-sik, opting to hide rather than hunt. Reluctantly, Myung-gi accepted Nam-gyu as his partner among the taggers. Elsewhere, No-eul struck decisively in the operating room, killing the traffickers outright and forcing the doctor at gunpoint to stabilize Gyeong-seok.
Beyond the island, the hunt to expose the games continued. Hwang Jun-ho’s investigative team regrouped, this time with a drone operator assisting their search for the island. Meanwhile, Woo-seok turned his attention to Captain Park, suspecting the man’s ties to the Front Man, Hwang In-ho. In-ho, ever calculating, instructed Park to eliminate Woo-seok if necessary.
Inside the maze of the Hide-and-Seek arena, alliances formed and shattered under fire. Hyun-ju, Geum-ja, and Jun-hee banded together, while Myung-gi calculated that eliminating hiders would not only thin the herd but also raise the prize pool. Under the influence of Nam-gyu’s discarded drugs, Min-su hallucinated visions of Se-mi, while Player 100, Jeong-dae, betrayed Seon-nyeo, leading to her death. Chaos grew in the labyrinth as players fought for survival.
Jun-hee, heavily pregnant, struggled. An ankle injury worsened her condition until she went into labor. With Hyun-ju fighting off attackers, Geum-ja stepped in to help Jun-hee deliver her baby in the midst of violence. Yet tragedy struck when Hyun-ju, just moments away from discovering an escape route, was killed by Myung-gi. Overcome with guilt upon seeing Jun-hee cradling her newborn, he walked away rather than press further.
Elsewhere, Gi-hun pursued Dae-ho with vengeance burning in his chest. Their confrontation revealed the truth: Dae-ho had lied about his military past and betrayed the rebellion out of fear. Enraged, Gi-hun strangled him to death, taking bitter solace in the act. As the game neared its end, Yong-sik attempted to kill Jun-hee, forcing Geum-ja to stab him in defense. Guards executed Yong-sik immediately, leaving Geum-ja shattered by the bloodshed. Wracked with guilt and grief, Gi-hun even attempted suicide, but was stopped by the guards before he could succeed.
The next round began under the shadow of despair. VIPs, disguised as soldiers, arrived to personally execute eliminated players. During the vote, Geum-ja begged the “O” players to end the games, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Tormented by the memory of her son’s death, she urged Gi-hun to protect Jun-hee and her baby, then took her own life in a final act of self-punishment. Moved by her sacrifice, Gi-hun vowed to protect Jun-hee and her daughter.
The new game was Jump Rope—a grotesque spectacle where players had to cross a giant swinging rope without being struck. Paralysis gripped the crowd until Min-su tossed Thanos’s necklace onto the bridge, baiting the drug-starved Nam-gyu into leaping for it. He succeeded, only to discover the cross was empty; moments later, the rope hurled him to his death. In a horrifying twist, the VIPs declared Jun-hee’s newborn an official player, increasing the stakes further. Gi-hun carried the infant across the bridge, vowing to return for Jun-hee, while other players followed in desperation. Player 096 made it across but began shoving others off to thin the numbers. Meanwhile, No-eul coerced a Masked Officer into helping her escape, discovering that Gyeong-seok was now disguised as a soldier.
The violence escalated in the next round. Player 096 blocked the path, refusing to let others cross, until Gi-hun killed him in self-defense. Myung-gi approached Jun-hee, but she rejected him, condemning him for murdering Hyun-ju. With her injury worsening, Jun-hee handed her baby to Gi-hun and sacrificed herself, leaving him and Myung-gi devastated. The VIPs, delighted by the spectacle, allowed the infant to remain in the games as Player 222.
Back in the dormitory, tensions flared when some players tried to harm the baby, but guards intervened, enforcing a new rule forbidding violence outside of games. Jeong-dae and his group began plotting to kill Gi-hun, the baby, and Min-su in the final round, with Myung-gi pretending to join them. Gi-hun was secretly summoned by In-ho, who revealed his true identity as Oh Young-il and offered him a deal: eliminate the remaining players to ensure survival for himself and the baby. Gi-hun refused, haunted by Sae-byeok’s memory reminding him that he was better than the monsters running the game.
The final challenge, “Sky Squid Game,” demanded players push opponents off elevated platforms. Round by round, the survivors dwindled: Min-su fell to hallucinations, Myung-gi revealed himself as the baby’s biological father while pushing others to their deaths, and Jeong-dae begged for mercy before being eliminated. In the end, only Gi-hun, Myung-gi, and the baby remained. Off the island, Jun-ho uncovered Captain Park’s role under In-ho’s orders and killed him after a brutal fight.
With the final confrontation set, Myung-gi plotted to kill the baby to guarantee his own victory. But Gi-hun, clinging to his last shred of humanity, fought back. Their clash ended with Myung-gi falling to his death before the game officially began, leaving only Gi-hun and the child. Faced with the chance to win everything, Gi-hun instead chose sacrifice. Declaring that the players were “humans, not horses,” he threw himself off the platform, ensuring the infant’s survival. His death shocked the VIPs and even shook In-ho, who ultimately saved the baby as the island self-destructed under the Coast Guard’s approach.
Six months later, the survivors began to rebuild their lives. Gyeong-seok reunited with his daughter and met No-eul, preparing to travel in search of her own child. Sae-byeok’s brother was reunited with his mother. Woo-seok, freed from prison, planned to renovate Gi-hun’s fortified hotel as a memorial. In-ho entrusted the baby and the prize money to Jun-ho, then traveled to Los Angeles to inform Gi-hun’s daughter of his death, leaving her with his bloodied tracksuit and remaining winnings. As he departed, he spotted an American recruiter playing ddakji with a new prospect, hinting at the games’ spread across the world.
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