Netflix announces release date for Squid Game season 3 after huge cliffhanger

Netflix have announced the release date for season three of Squid Game.

The show is one of the biggest Netflix have ever produced, with 2021's season one still holding the record for the most watched show on the platform in any language.

On top of this, for non-English shows season two takes the number two spot and comes in at third overall, behind only season one and Wednesday.

For the 173 million people who did watch Squid Game season two, however, they will have to wait far longer than they probably expected to resolve the massive cliffhanger that ended the series.

Netflix has released first look images from the new series (Netflix)

Spoiler warning for Squid Game season two.

The second season, which aired on Boxing Day 2024, ends with Gi-Hun sparking an uprising amongst players, only for Park Jung-bae, Gi-Hun’s best friend, to be shot right in front of him.

This led many viewers to furiously demand a new season and right away and, as much as that is in any way possible in Hollywood, that’s exactly what they’re getting.

Netflix has announced that the third and final season of the show will drop on June 27, 2025, just six months after the second season released.

Compared to the fact the gap between the first and second season was over three years, season three coming so soon after will be a treat for many fans.

One poster on the subreddit r/SquidGame will be sure to be pleased, after posting following the season two finale: "I NEED SEASON THREE NOW. How are we gonna end on this massive cliffhanger? Only seven episodes after 3 years of waiting????

"Squid game 2 hype was definitely built up but it feels misleading to treat this season as a two parter. But this wasn’t even mentioned and now I want squid game season 3 NOWWWWWW."

The show’s creator, Hwang Dong Hyuk, said of the season two finale and how it sets up season three in a chat with The Hollywood Reporter: "I wanted to conclude season two after all of Gi-hun’s attempts had gone to failure.

"The first of them being getting the mercenaries together, letting them know where the island was with the tracker implant. The second was him wanting to persuade the majority of the people through the voting system so they could leave the Squid Game.

The new season is coming soon (Netflix)

"Then his third and last attempt was leading a rebellion, where he did have to sacrifice people, and all of that goes to failure."

He went on to say of season three: "I wrote seasons two and three back-to-back, we filmed them back-to-back, and it’s currently in post. The third season will really explore that sense of loss and failure, that guilt weighing so heavily on Gi-hun. How’s he going to navigate the story further with all of that weighing down on him?

"Personally, I see the third season as being the finale to this story. That’s because I believe I’ve had closure to the story I wanted to tell about society through the character of Seong Gi-hun.

"If I ever wanted to go back to the world of Squid Game, it would be about different characters with a different story arc. Some kind of spinoff, maybe."

Squid Game season three releases June 27, 2025, on Netflix.