Squid Game Season 3 Theory Claims The Show's Most Heartbreaking Death Didn't Really Happen
Warning! This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 2.
Many main characters die in Squid Game season 2's ending arc, but a theory suggests that one presumed dead player might still be alive. Unlike season 1, Squid Game season 2 is significantly less ruthless when it comes to killing off its main characters. While almost all primary players in the central games perish by the end of Squid Game season 1, many survive before season 2's credits start rolling. However, some character deaths in Squid Game season 2's final arc are still shocking, highlighting how the brutal death games spare nobody.
From its early moments, Squid Game season 2 highlights that no character is safe in its unforgiving world by featuring the Salesman's death. The show turns even darker when the game begins in episode 3 and many seemingly important players either have close brushes with doom or meet gruesome fates. In the finale, the hit Netflix Korean show ends on a tragic note when characters, like Gyeong-seok and Jung-bae, also end up dead. Interestingly, however, a theory suggests that one of the main characters believed to be dead after season 2's events will likely return in season 3.
Player 246 (Gyeong-seok) May Not Actually Be Dead After Squid Game Season 2
No-eul Might Have Saved Him In Squid Game Season 2's Finale
When it comes to characters like Jung-bae, Squid Game season 2's ending arc explicitly shows how they get shot and fall to the ground before taking their last breaths. However, when it comes to Player 246, Gyeong-seok, the show maintains some ambiguity around his fate. Gyeong-seok and his fellow players run out of ammunition in Squid Game season 2's final arc and are forced to surrender. One of them even dies by suicide, realizing that their quest to escape the games has taken them nowhere.
To the players' dismay, even when they decide to surrender, the guards do not spare them and shoot them at point-blank range. Gyeong-seok, too, gives in and even tries to get the guards' sympathy by claiming that he has a sick daughter. The show implies that he is also not spared and gets shot by a guard. However, before Squid Game season 2 can explicitly confirm his death, it cuts to another scene. This raises the possibility that the guard who approached him was No-eul, who might not have killed him.
Why No-eul Might Have Saved Player 246 In Squid Game Season 2's Finale
She Empathizes With Gyeong-seok's Situation
In Squid Game season 2's opening arc, No-eul watches a man (Gyeong-seok) carry his sick daughter to an ambulance before noticing that the daughter dropped her cap. When No-eul goes to the hospital to return the cap, she learns that the young girl has cancer, and her father is struggling to afford her treatment. The child also reminds No-eul of her own daughter, who she lost after fleeing from North Korea. Her backstory also reveals that she joined the games as a guard because she was desperate to track down her daughter and needed money to hire a private investigator.
Since she knows the pain of losing a child, No-eul might have saved Gyeong-seok in Squid Game season 2 to ensure he meets his daughter again.
Before No-eul leaves for the games in Squid Game season 2, her private detective informs her that he has tried his best to find her daughter but has been unable to uncover any concrete leads. Even when she offers him more money, he tells her they should give up as it seems unlikely she will ever reunite with her child. Owing to this, it is hard not to believe that No-eul empathizes with Gyeong-seok's situation and understands why he is at the games. Since she knows the pain of losing a child, No-eul might have saved Gyeong-seok in Squid Game season 2 to ensure he meets his daughter again.
Squid Game Key Facts Breakdown | |
Written & Directed By | Hwang Dong-hyuk |
No. Of Episodes | 16 |
No. Of Seasons | 2 |
Budget | US $21.4 million in season 1 and ₩100 billion in season 2 |
Streaming On | Netflix |
Given how she was surrounded by many other guards when she approached Gyeong-seok in Squid Game season 2's finale, it seems likely that she might have shot him in the shoulder or another non-vital part of his body. This would allow her to pretend that she supports the Officer's organ-harvesting operation by sending Kyung-seok to the room where the organs of the survivors are removed. However, before his organs are removed in Squid Game season 3, she might save him and help him escape.
Squid Game Season 2 Set Up Gyeong-seok's Death Twist From The Very Beginning
Episode 3 Paved The Way For The Finale Twist
No-eul gives up on finding her daughter in Squid Game season 2's opening arc and seemingly expresses her hatred towards the games by throwing their calling card in the fire. Even after arriving at the games, No-eul goes against the grain by protesting against the Officer's orders and killing the players who were intentionally left alive for the organ-harvesting operation. Her initial defiance towards the system hinted that she had no reason to play by the games' rules after losing her daughter.
Squid Game season 3 is scheduled to be released on Netflix in 2025.
In Squid Game season 2's episode 3, No-eul also spots Gyeong-seok during the "Red Light, Green Light" game and recognizes him as the father of the young girl with cancer. The fact that she takes a good look at him before returning to her responsibilities as a guard highlights how she empathizes with him. Her feelings of empathy towards Gyeong-seok in Squid Gameseason 2's early moments foreshadow how she will eventually save him to forgive and redeem herself for not being able to save her own daughter.
Squid Game is a South Korean series released in 2021 that follows numerous financially struggling participants who are invited to partake in children's games with deadly outcomes. As they compete, they vie for a substantial cash prize, all while navigating lethal challenges orchestrated by mysterious figures.
- Cast
- Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-jun, Jeon Young-soo, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Jo Yu-ri, Park Gyu-young, Kang Ae-sim, Park Hae-soo, Park Hye-jin, Kang Ha-neul, Hoyeon, Oh Young-soo, Yang Dong-geun, Heo Sung-tae, Kim Joo-ryoung, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Anupam Tripathi, Lee You-mi, Choi Gwi-hwa, Lee Da-wit, Jun Suk-ho, Ha Soo-ho, You Seong-joo
- Showrunner
- Hwang Dong-hyuk
- Directors
- Hwang Dong-hyuk
- Writers
- Hwang Dong-hyuk
- Seasons
- 3
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
