Are we happy with Squid Game third and final season? Available from June 27 on Netflix, it's as surprising as ever

We’ve reached the endgame. Squid Game, the global phenomenon that kept audiences on the edge of their seats, arrives at its third and final season, delivering a conclusion that may not bring peace to its characters, but will certainly offer closure to viewers around the world. And perhaps even more, given the tone with which the return is presented on the platform. A successful title for Netflix, although it had experienced a slight decline in audience appreciation and, above all, interest during the previous season. The platform’s choice to spread the release over several months allowed the acclaimed Korean show to make a comeback after the first season, a true event, though its narrative and development had suffered, now redeemed by a conclusion worthy of the work by director and showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk.

Having reserved the highest tension for its final six episodes, and having moved past the déjà-vu sensation sparked by its December 2024 return, the show finds its own identity, allowing the story not only to reconnect with its origins but also to explore a strange and uncharted path. Squid Game 3 picks up where it left off and changes course. It remains bloody, exaggerated and melodramatic, but the fates crafted by Hwang Dong-hyuk for his characters take them down unpredictable roads. United only by the inevitability of death—the guiding thread of all the trials in the series—their paths intertwine to the point of instilling in viewers a sense of inevitability and despair, which is what ultimately draws protagonist Seong Gi-hun back into the deadly trap he cannot seem to escape.

Having suffered further heavy losses and faced with the idea of being responsible for the death of teammates who had trusted his leadership, the protagonist played by Lee Jung-jae spirals into a vortex of inevitability and apathy—a confrontation he must face if he wants to survive the games and avenge all those who were eliminated. Meanwhile, the rest of the characters continue down their own paths, increasingly shaping the show’s core themes of religion, belief, power, pity, and mercy, which form the foundation of Squid Game’s narrative structure. And which lead the character of the Front Man, played by Lee Byung-hun, to ask his nemesis Seong Gi-hun the fateful question: «Do you still believe in people?» But with this third season of Squid Game, the real question for Netflix’s audience is: is there still a desire to continue a show that didn’t shine on its return, but might surprise with its ending?