Squid Game hooked the world with its wild mix of childhood games and life-or-death stakes, and now creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has fans buzzing with a tease about a possible spinoff. While chatting on the Gotham Awards red carpet with IndieWire on June 2, 2025, Hwang said he’s thinking about a project that dives into the three years between Seasons 1 and 2, explaining, “If I make a spinoff, it’ll be about what happened in that gap. I want to show what they were up to.” With Season 3 dropping on Netflix June 27, 2025, this hint has everyone wondering what’s next for the Squid Game universe.
Since its 2021 debut, Squid Game has been a global juggernaut, racking up 2.2 billion viewing hours in its first three months. The story follows Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a guy down on his luck who wins a brutal game for a huge cash prize, only to wrestle with guilt and a mission to shut it all down. Season 2, which hit Netflix in December 2024, pulled in 68 million views in its first week, showing the show’s still got a chokehold on fans. With Season 3 set to wrap Gi-hun’s story, Hwang’s spinoff idea feels like a fresh way to keep the party going.
So, what’s this spinoff about? Hwang’s thinking of exploring what key players were doing during the three-year jump between Seasons 1 and 2. At the end of Season 1, Gi-hun’s a broken winner, skipping a flight to see his daughter to go after the game’s shadowy organizers. Season 2 picks up with him diving back in to take them down, alongside familiar faces like the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) and detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon). A spinoff could show how Gi-hun went from wrecked to ready, or maybe dig into the Front Man’s rise or even the Recruiter’s (Gong Yoo) moves before his early exit in Season 2.
Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2025 that Season 3 will close out Gi-hun’s arc, saying, “I’ve told the story I wanted about society through him.” But he’s open to new stories in the Squid Game world, maybe focusing on different characters. He’s tossed around ideas like showing the masked guards’ lives or what they do on their days off, giving a peek into the game’s creepy inner workings. Fans are also hyped for a possible Front Man prequel, since his past as a player and Jun-ho’s brother is still a big question mark.
The spinoff talk has fans pumped but a little wary. Some love the idea of diving deeper into characters like the Front Man or even Choi Seung-hyun’s Thanos, who went out hard in Season 2. Others aren’t so sure, worried it could feel like a money grab, especially after Season 2’s cliffhanger left a few folks grumbling about loose ends. Hwang told EW that Seasons 2 and 3 were originally one big story, split because it was “too much for one season,” which explains the pacing but didn’t win over everyone.
Netflix is all about growing the Squid Game world. They’ve already got Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality show, and word is David Fincher’s working on an American version. Hwang told The Wrap that Netflix isn’t letting go of the franchise, saying, “They’ve got plans, and I might help out as an advisor or co-creator.” With tie-ins like Call of Duty skins and pop-up events in Paris and Seoul, the Squid Game craze is everywhere. Still, Hwang’s focus is on stories that hit hard, digging into what makes people tick under pressure.
A spinoff could answer big questions: How did Gi-hun turn into a rebel? What was the Front Man up to after Il-nam’s death? And what about Jun-ho’s hunt for his brother? It might even bring in new faces, like the guards Hwang mentioned, to shake things up without dragging Gi-hun’s story out too long. Season 3’s promising a “heavier, darker” vibe with a big Gi-hun vs. Front Man showdown, per Entertainment Weekly, and a spinoff could set that up nicely.
Hwang knows how to deliver—he made Squid Game a hit despite losing six teeth from the stress of Season 1. His spinoff tease, whether it’s about the guards or the Front Man’s past, has fans ready for more. As we count down to Season 3, the idea of a new story bridging that three-year gap has us all wondering what secrets the Squid Game world is still hiding.