Squid Game 3 Ending Explained: Lee Jung-jae's Gi-hun could have survived but here's what went wrong at the final scene

SPOILER ALERT!  This article contains detailed explanations of the Squid Game Season 3 ending. Avoid reading further if you haven’t seen Lee Jung-jae's survival thriller series!

Squid Game Season 3 is the last season of the fan-favorite series, Squid Game. The final season, consisting of 6 episodes, premiered on Netflix on June 27. A few days before the release, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed that it would be a sad ending, and fans started to speculate what it could be, but they never thought that all their favorite characters, including Lee Jung-jae's Gi-hun, would die at the end. Even though the ending is heartbreaking, it is fitting to the plot of the last season. However, Gi-hun could have survived the ending, but he had to die. Why? Read below! 

Squid Game 3 ending explained

The final season of Squid Game 3 disappointed fans because of its ending. From Kim Jun-hee to Gi-hun, almost every character died at the end. As usual, the games of season 3 were deadly and thrilling enough. While playing Hide and Seek, Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) gave birth to a baby girl, and nobody could sense that the newborn girl would be a turning point at the end of the series. 

During Hide and Seek, Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) died, Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) had to kill his son as per the rule of the game, but later she committed suicide. More devastating twists and turns appeared during the Jump Rope game, where each player must make their way across the bridge while jumping over the rope as it swings.

Gi-hun took Jun-hee's baby girl with him and crossed the bridge, but at the end, Jun-hee, who had badly hurt her ankle, could not complete the game and jumped off the bridge and died.

Deadly Sky Squid Game

Sky Squid Game was the final game of the season, and it had three rounds. The players would start on the square pillar, move on to the triangle pillar, and finally end on the circle pillar. On each shape, they would play a pushing game, and thus, players would be eliminated. However, there is one rule: they would need to push a buzzer to start the game. 

During this game, three players survived for the last round, and they were Gi-hun (player 456), player 333 Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan), and player 222, the daughter of Jun-hee (since Jun-hee died, her daughter was considered a player). However, Gi-hun did not want the daughter to be killed, but Myung-gi had a different plan. Gi-hun and Myung-gi had a fight, and at the end, Myung-gi fell off the circle pillar and was eliminated.

Also Read: Squid Game Season 3 Review: A farewell etched in blood, a future scribbled in sand; but is that enough?

However, Gi-hun and Player 222 could not be considered winners because they forgot to press the buzzer. To follow the rules of the game, Gi-hu pressed the buzzer, the game started, and he sacrificed his life for Jun-hee's daughter. Thus, Gi-hun also died, and Player 222 became the winner. After the end of the season, fans started to comment that if Gi-hun pressed the buzzer before the fight with Myung-gi, he and Jun-hee's daughter would have survived, but sadly, that was not the case, and the reality was brutal. 

One of the most heartbreaking and emotional scenes was when Gi-hun lay on the floor after choosing humanity over violence, while the audience was shown every game place from seasons 1 to 3 with a sadistic tone of the title track, pointing to the end of Squid Game 3 as the whole island was set on fire.