Squid Game season 4 isn't happening - but fans shouldn't lose hope just yet

Squid Game showrunner-writer-director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, has firmly confirmed the end of the famed show after three blockbuster seasons.

In a letter to fans shared on Netflix’s official website in July 2024, Dong-hyuk wrote: “I am beyond excited to announce the date for Season 2 and share the news of Season 3, the final season. I am thrilled to see the seed that was planted in creating a new Squid Game grow and bear fruit through the end of this story. I need to wrap up Gi-hun’s journey and convey a message to the audience right now.

“The message I wanted to communicate was that if we solely pursue our immediate self-interest, and refuse to self-restrain, sacrifice, or bear any costs, and if we don’t put our heads together, we have no future.”

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Netflix’s Tudum also confirmed there will be no Season 4 of the record-breaking show. In another statement shared via Tudum, Dong-hyuk said: “Creating 22 episodes was a tough journey, so I feel bittersweet now that it’s over. At the bottom of it all is the joy we felt as we made something together.

"The moments when I thought, ‘What I had envisioned in my head is actually materializing right in front of me.’ Seeing scenes come to life — even better than I imagined — was deeply moving. I’ll miss and hold onto that feeling for a long time," he added.

However, all hope is not lost for fans of the series. In a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Dong-hyuk revealed he has been contemplating potential spin-offs to his mega-famous franchise, sharing that he has been toying with an idea through which the Squid Game universe can potentially carry on.

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The show creator said: “I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff — not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] looks around for the recruiters."

He continued: “There is that three-year period, and maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that. So that is some vague ideation that I have that could possibly be developed in the future.”

Dong-hyuk conclusively shared: “Season 3 is indeed a finale, and you'll be able to feel that once you watch. But I'm not trying to say that I'm going to close the door to spinoffs or sequels altogether because they say never say never."

As for the fate of Player 456? Gi-hun’s story will come to a decisive end, as seen in the final episode of Squid Game’s third season. Creating the show has come at a heavy personal cost to the showrunner though.

Dong-hyuk confirmed to Entertainment Weekly last month that he lost two more teeth while making the show’s final season. This is in addition to the eight teeth he “had to pull out” while making the first season of the ultra popular Korean show.

He shared: “I thought it was going to be okay, but this time I had to pull out two more teeth as well. I had to pull out about eight teeth in season 1, and now I have two teeth more out, and I haven't put them back in yet. So I'm waiting for them.”

All three seasons of Squid Game are available to stream on Netflix.

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