'Squid Game' Season 2 Ending: Why Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk Chose That Cliffhanger Moment
Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is speaking out about the ending of season two and why they decided to conclude the season at that point.
Spoilers ahead!
The season ended with The Front Man (In-ho/Young-il) shooting and killing Jung-bae next to Gi-hun, who then breaks down at the sight of his friend’s death.
Gi-hun is not yet aware that The Front Man was player 001 the whole time.
Keep reading to find out more…
About ending the season on that cliffhanger, Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety, “When I first wrote the story of Seasons 2 and 3 it was one long story arc. And I was originally planning to write this story across a span of about eight to nine episodes, but once I finished the story, it came to over 10 episodes, which I thought was too long to contain in a single season. And so I wanted to have an adequate point where I could give closure as a second season and then move on with the third. And when you look at Gi-hun’s story, all of his attempts that he puts in to stop the game: the first one being getting these mercenaries and trying to plant a tracking device, that goes to fail; the second attempt of trying to persuade people to vote so that they can leave the game, that goes to fail as well; and then the third and last attempt of bringing people together and causing the rebellion, it also all goes to fail.”
He continued, “So all of his failures lead to this heavy, heavy crisis of having to lose his very best friend, Jung-bae, at the hands of The Front Man. And when you think about Gi-hun’s journey, I thought that that was an adequate moment to put a stop and give him a little bit of closure along that long story arc. And then from that moment on, in the third season, having that sense of huge guilt and sense of failure weighing heavily on him — how is Gi-hun going to carry on his mission? That’s the story that’ll further unfold.”
Find out when season three might air.