Much of life is cyclical—sunrises and sunsets, the changing of the seasons, and apparently, perverse competitions run by secret organizations. June 27 marked the end of the Squid Game era at Netflix but also the beginning of a new one, thanks to the final scene of the series finale.
The final season of Netflix’s most-watched non-English series fulfilled the promise Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk made in his interview with The Guardian, where he implied the series wouldn’t have a happy ending. It surely did not. Fan favorites died too early, a baby was nearly killed multiple times, and the ultimate sacrifice of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) didn’t help him achieve the goal he set for himself when he returned to the sadistic game at the start of Season 2. But the saddest part of the ending was the fact that Squid Game—both the show and the fictional spectator sport—wasn’t over. In the final moments, we see none other than Cate Blanchett running the same Ddakji game in Los Angeles that Korean actor Gong Yoo played to recruit contestants.
Back in October 2024, an English-language version of Squid Game was announced with David Fincher attached, so it’s no big reveal that we’ll be getting a new series. The surprise lies more in an Academy Award-winning star like Blanchett taking on a role that had barely any screen time in the Korean original. There’s no official confirmation that Blanchett will appear in Fincher’s Squid Game, but even if her time in the Squid Game universe was brief, she left a lasting impression on the series creator.
“During the shoot, she reminded me of what true talent looks like. Even with just a few looks and lines, her performance was mesmerizing,” Dong-hyuk told Tudum. “She was amazing at playing Ddakji. I believe she successfully flipped the ddakji on her first try, and we were able to get that one long take right away.”
Rumors have been circulating that Fincher’s Squid Game will start production in December. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of shows and movies featuring deadly survival games for those missing the Netflix thriller.