‘Squid Game’ Creator’s Alternate Season 3 Ending Is Way Better

If you didn’t love Squid Game season 3 or its ending in particular, you’re not alone, as in the end, it became something of a muddled mess with unsatisfying ends to many storylines, Gi-hun’s included. But we could have fixed that, it seems.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk explains the other idea he had for how the series would end in season 3:

“I don’t know if I can call it an original ending, but in the beginning I had a vague idea about how I would end the story. And back then, it was having Gi-hun end the game, in one way or another, and leave alive and go see his daughter in America. So originally, I thought the person who witnesses the American recruiter woman would be Gi-hun.”

But this is why he changed it:

“But as I began writing the story, and as I began to think more and more about, “What do I want to deliver with the ending of this story?” And also, “What should Gi-hun’s journey and what should his destination be?” I was witnessing more and more what was happening around the world and I thought it was more fitting for Gi-hun to send this powerful and impactful message to the world [with his death] and that should be how the story comes to a close.”

Not to tell the creator of the series he’s wrong, but he’s wrong.

Gi-hun’s ending was a poor finale, given that he ended up killing himself to “save” the (computer-generated) baby when if another few minutes had passed, the entire game would have ended with the Coast Guard’s invasion, and the idea that he or the baby would be killed at all would go out the window. So his sacrifice was really for nothing with the way that ending was structured.

However, that original ending would have been a much better bookend. In it Gi-hun’s ending would mirror the choice he was given at the end of the first season, move on with his life and money, or seek to destroy the game. Seeing the recruiter would tell him the games were still continuing, but even still, he finally chooses his family over pursuing its destruction. That would have been way better!

Season 3 ended with a rather dismal 50% audience score, the lowest of any season and a far cry from season 1’s 84%. Questions still remain about whether the show will continue, as Hwang has pitched a prequel series starring Gi-hun set between seasons 1 and 2. The door is also open for another future season, and there’s a lot of chatter about an American Squid Game spin-off that has yet to be confirmed. But I think we all hoped that the current iteration of the show ended better, and as it turns out, it could have.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.