Squid Game on Netflix: That Ending Explained & Your Burning Questions Answered

Squid game, the disturbing but intriguing Korean series about a murderous children’s game tournament, may soon top Bridgerton to become Netflix’s biggest show. The tournament itself is making its way to a bloody resolution. But that doesn’t mean all of our questions about the squid game have been answered. Here are the answers to eight burning questions viewers may have about the dystopian show.

Disclaimer: The following story includes huge spoilers for Squid Game, so if you haven’t watched all of the episodes, come back and read this once you’re done. You don’t want to be spoiled for some of the plot twists.

1. When was Squid Game released?

The nine-episode series was released on Netflix on September 17.

2. Will there be a Squid Game season 2?

If you’ve watched the entire show (remember that spoiler warning above), you know the game doesn’t really end with the ninth episode. This continues and the future of “winner” Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) remains uncertain. Will we ever know what happens after he gets off that plane? The answer is a resounding … maybe. Writer / director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Variety he might return to movies on the big screen before he thinks of a Squid Game sequel.

“I don’t have any well-developed plans for Squid Game 2,” he told Variety. “It’s quite tiring just thinking about it. But if I had to do it, I certainly wouldn’t do it alone. I would consider using a writers’ room and I would like several experienced directors.”

The success of Squid Game is sure to make Netflix executives want more, but we just don’t know if they’ll entice the director for more. Take out the hanging piggy bank full of Korean won, Netflix, and pay the man.

3. Was Squid Game based on a book?

It certainly looks like Squid Game would make a great novel or a graphic novel. But right now, you can’t go to your bookstore and pick up a Squid Game book to read.

According to Korean pop culture site Soompi, Squid Game director Hwang Dong Hyuk said he got the idea for the show in 2008 from a comic book about people playing a game. extreme. But he didn’t name the comic.

And it might not even be a single comic, as the director told the Korea Herald that he “read a lot of comics and was fascinated by survival games.” So until Hwang comes and names some of his reading texts, we are just guessing. It seems likely that Squid Game will now be turned into a book, because it’s such a success. Keep an eye on the bookstore shelves.

Some claim that Squid Game is eerily similar to a 2014 Japanese film, As The Gods Will, directed by Takashi Miike. This film itself is based on a Japanese manga. This is also a tournament of death using childhood games and appears to have very similar scenes including a doll spinning around and trying to catch moving players.

The Squid Game director told a press conference that only the first game in the film is similar to his show and that he had been working on its concept for years before the release of As The Gods Will in 2014.

4. Is Squid Game a real game?

Obviously, there is no such thing as a deadly Squid Game tournament, where people are killed while playing innocent children’s games. We hope. But the title refers to a specific game that takes its name from a loosely squid-shaped terrain.

Main character Seong Gi-hun makes Squid Game feel unique to his town, portraying a game that resembles Red Rover and Capture the Flag and is played in a squid-shaped playground. To win, the attacking team, who are only allowed to jump until they are past the size of the squid, must tap the squid on the head with their foot. Director Hwang told the Korea Herald that it was his favorite childhood game, so yes, it does appear to be real.

The other games played are quite obviously real including marbles, tug of war, and Red Light Green Light. There’s one game that’s obviously not real – one in which players have to walk across a glass bridge and don’t know which panel will break underfoot – although games like hopscotch require you to place your feet only. in some squares.

One game gives each player a box of candy with a raised shape, and they have to use a sharp object to cut out the shape without breaking it. It’s easy if you have a triangular shape, not so easy if you chose the umbrella. Competitors eventually learn that licking the back of the candy helps release shape.

This candy is real – here’s a YouTube video from PinoyChefKorea that shows you how to make it. (Recipe instructions are listed in English captions.) make Dalgona coffee during the pandemic? This candy is the Dalgona candy.

The candy is popular with Korean children, the chef notes. And yes, eaters in Korea are trying to eat around the relief shape without breaking it, although the stakes for them are not life or death.

5. Is Red Light doll, Green Light real?

The first game the contestant plays is Red Light, Green Light, but instead of a human turning around and trying to catch someone moving during “Red Light”, it’s a giant schoolgirl robot doll. super scary.

Koreaboo online publication reports that the doll was not designed for Squid Game, but was already on display at the Jincheon Carriage Museum Adventure Village, also known as Macha Land, a museum in Chungcheongbok-do, in South Korea, several hours from Seoul. . Koreaboo says the doll has now been returned to the museum, but somehow is missing a hand. Hey, these games were tough on everyone.

Den of Geek reported tweets to us from residents of the Philippines noting that a version of the doll was part of a Netflix screen at a mall there, and that her head was in fact spinning.

6. This squid game business card

Squid Game recruiters handed out light brown business cards with the game symbol – a circle, triangle, and square – on one side and a phone number on the other. (Enterprising online artists sell them if your Halloween costume needs an accessory, or make them yourself.)

Writer Jasmine Leung explains for The Focus that the shapes are actually Korean letters.

“The circle is the letter ‘o’, the triangle is part of the letter ‘j’ and the square is ‘m’,” she wrote. “So side by side it reads ‘OJ M’, which are the initials (of) squid game in Korean, which reads like Ojingeo Geim (오징어 게임).”

This side of the card is okay, but the other side, with a phone number displayed, caused some issues. Mashable Southeast Asia reports that a person with this number complained of receiving “endless” calls and texts. (Come on Netflix, you should have bought a specific number and set up a promotional message for those who called it.)

7. Theory on Guards Squid Game

Squid Game’s guards wear red, and when exposed, he looks like a naïve young soldier. An online theory attempts to explain how the guards were hired. Main character Seong Gi-hun plays a game called ddakji with a recruiter for the game. (Ddakji is a traditional Korean game of flipping paper tiles, much like POGs.) Gi-hun chooses blue paper over red. It sounds random, but one theory claims it isn’t.

“So there is a theory in Squid Game where Gi-Hun chose the seller’s credit card (Gong Yoo) and then woke up in a blue suit as a player,” one tweet notes. “If he or the other players had chosen the red card, they would be the workers / guards. ”

So there is a theory in Squid Game where Gi-Hun chose the seller’s credit card (Gong Yoo) and then woke up in a blue suit as a player. If he or the other players had chosen the red card, they would be the workers / guards. pic.twitter.com/cPJZMq5Ymg

-. (@mixxtake) September 24, 2021

There’s no proof that’s true, but hey, good fodder for a possible sequel.

8. The end of the Squid Game explained

Super spoiler time, because we’re going to talk about the end of the series. Seong Gi-hun wins, and he learns who really runs the game (you might have figured it out since we don’t see this character die in the game, but it’s such a juicy twist that I won’t reveal it here. ).

After dealing with the brain of the game, Gi-hun dyes his hair bright red (like the outfits of the guards, although that’s probably unrelated). Then he begins to board a plane to LA to find his young daughter. But he sees the game recruiter who got him involved in the game trying to convince another unlucky man to play. Gi-hun grabs the card, and just before getting on the plane, calls the number and tells the person answering that he’s going to find them. FOLLOWING? Even if the director doesn’t seem in a rush, the setup is perfect for one.

And let’s talk about the brothers. Police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) infiltrates the game, looking for his missing brother In-ho. Jun-ho escapes from the game enclosure but is apparently killed by The Front Man, who is sort of the manager of the game. And The Front Man is revealed to be … Jun-ho’s missing brother, whose we have already learned that he won the match in 2015.

The brothers could also return in a sequel. Jun-ho was shot in the shoulder (before falling off a cliff into the water). So he may not be dead, although he doesn’t seem to have exposed the brains of the game to his fellow police officers, since the game continues. It wouldn’t be the only pretense of death in this show.