When Squid Game premiered in 2021, it got off to a fairly slow start. However, as word spread, the Korean survival series became the biggest show in Netflix's history, smashing records at every turn. Now, 3 years later, the series is back for its second outing. And the viewership has very much continued where it left off: Squid Game season 2 had the biggest opening week of any Netflix show, ever.
Squid Game season 2 premiered on December 26, drawing in an astonishing 68 million views in its first week. To put this into perspective, the previous record-holder for Netflix was Wednesday, which boasted 50.1 million views. Currently, Squid Game season 2 is already ranked 7th on Netflix's all-time top 10 list for non-English programming, and just 30 million viewers away from besting the lowest entry on its English language top-10 list. Squid Game season 1 retains the coveted #1 spot across both English and non-English lists, with 265.2 million views.
Squid Game season 2 has received great reviews so far. The new season gets off to a slow start, favoring exposition. But by episode 3, when Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) infiltrates the games determined to put an end to them once and for all, the show returns to form. The new games are terrific, especially Mingle. So too are the new contestants, with the breakout star being Thanos (Seunghyun Choi) — a former rapper who's ended up in the games having racked up a ton of debt from investing in cryptocurrency.
The games will continue in season 3. Netflix recently released a teaser, showing off a new, probably very evil, doll.
Everyone say hi to Chul-su 👋 Season 3 coming in 2025. pic.twitter.com/tjWjFESLFQ
— Squid Game (@squidgame) January 1, 2025
Squid Game season 3 will premiere in "summer or fall" 2025.
Squid Game season 2 ended on a massive cliffhanger, with the Front Man back at the helm after Gi-hun's failed attempt at rebelling against the game's perpetrators. Only half of the games have been played, so there's a lot more to come. Looking ahead to the third and final season, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed that show's endgame isn't too far away.
“At this point, anything I might say is going to be a spoiler, so I want to be cautious," he told Variety. "But what I can say is, after Season 2 launches, I believe we will be announcing the launch date for Season 3 soon. I probably expect that to launch around summer or fall next year." When he says next year, he means 2025. The interview took place before the New Year.
As for plot details, he teases a few things, including Gi-hun's changed mindset following his failed rebellion:
"But as for the storyline of the third season, Gi-hun having lost everything, including his best friend, and all of his attempts going to failure, it’s now, what is he going to be like? What state is Gi-hun going to be in? And what will he choose to do? Will he continue on with the mission? Is he going to give up or persist? And so you’re going to meet our character Gi-hun at a very critical crossroads as we begin the third season. Gi-hun will not be the man he was in Season 2."
Squid Game season 2 is now airing on Netflix.
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