The third and final season of South Korean dystopian survival thriller television series "Squid Game", marketed as Squid Game 3 and created for television by South Korean writer and television producer Hwang Dong-hyuk, was released on Netflix on June 27, 2025.
The season stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-shim, Jo Yu-ri, Lee David, and Roh Jae-won. In the season, Seong Gi-hun and the players fight for survival in ever-deadlier games. In-ho welcomes the VIPs while his brother Jun-ho continues the search for the island, unaware of a traitor in their midst. Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, the audience reception was mixed.
Episodes.
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Cast and characters.
Numbers in parentheses denote the character's assigned player number in the "Squid Game" universe.
Guest.
Additionally, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk makes a small cameo appearance.
Production.
Development.
Hwang stated in December 2021 that he was discussing a third season of "Squid Game" with Netflix. The third season was confirmed after season two aired. When Hwang was thinking about the idea for the ending of season three, he thought of season three as the finale. He believed that with that story, he was able to tell everything that he wanted to tell through the story of "Squid Game" and also in the perspective of Seong Gi-hun as a character, and that he doesn't need any further stories from here.
Writing.
Hwang originally envisioned the second and third seasons as one, but split them up after feeling there were too many episodes for one season. According to Hwang, at the beginning of the third season, Gi-hun will once again be a changed man compared to the previous two seasons and "at a very critical crossroads". The season will also reveal how Hwang In-ho became the Front Man. Cheol-su, Young-hee's giant robot doll "boyfriend", was introduced in the post-credits scene of the second season's final episode and will appear in season three alongside a new game. Speaking about the season, Hwang talks about how the emphasis this season places "on how [people] have to preserve their humanity amidst this intense competition" but introduces games "that could really show the lowest bottom of human beings" wanting "very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature." He also talked about how the changes Gi-hun and Myung-gi go through are "dramatic" and how Jun-hee's baby will be very relevant "not just for Jun-hee, but [also] for the fate of everyone inside."
Hwang had originally written the season to end with Gi-hun being able to escape the games, winning or not, along with others, and going to see his daughter, but felt this ending "didn't line up for me" given the situation in the contemporary world. He altered to story to include Jun-hee and her baby as to allow Gi-hun to sacrifice himself for the baby's future, which Hwang saw as a symbol of the next generation.
Casting.
Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun reprise their roles as Gi-hun and the Front Man, respectively, along with others who reprise their roles from season two, which are: Wi Ha-joon, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon, Im Si-wan, Yang Dong-geun, Park Gyu-young, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim, Lee David, and Roh Jae-won, as the season will resume the game of the second season.
Cate Blanchett appears in a cameo appearance at the end of the final episode, she takes the role of a recruiter for an American version of the games. Hwang said that "having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing", and with Blanchett, "We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did[...]If Gong Yoo is the Korean Recruiter, I thought she would be the perfect fit as the American Recruiter, bringing a short but gripping and impactful ending to the story." Lee considered the scene to reflect on the nature of the Squid Games, that "despite all of the noble efforts of so many people, the world still continues as it was before". Though some media outlets like "Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter" believed that this final scene may help to set up the planned America production of "Squid Game" that David Fincher has been slated to direct, Hwang said that he did not plan this scene to make any such connection, having heard no official word about the Fincher version.
Filming.
Filming for the third season started in July 2023 and ended in June 2024, as it was filmed back-to-back along with the second season.
Post-production.
The editing portion for season three was "nearly done" by November 2024.
Release.
The season was released on Netflix on June 27, 2025.
Reception.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 43 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "The games reach a grim crescendo in this climactic third season, repeating familiar beats but with a ruthlessness that drives creator Hwang Dong-hyuk's themes home." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
"Time" also gave a positive review of the series, commenting that the series was back to its "brutal best" that "cuts to the bone" with its emotional depth and character arcs, as well as the themes touched on by Hwang in the series. 
While professional critical reviews remained largely positive as with previous seasons, it has been noted that audience ratings declined, with Rotten Tomatoes displaying about half positive and half negative user reviews.