This article contains spoilers for Squid game Season 2.

Squid game is officially back. Three years after the dystopian Korean drama broke streaming records as the most-watched Netflix series of all time, all seven episodes of season two were released on the streamer on December 26th.

After picking up where it left off a year after the games ended, the second season jumps two years into the future and follows Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), also known as Player 456, who managed to defeat the Prize of 45.6 billion South Korean won to be won. Gi-hun decides to get back into the life-and-death survival game with the intention of taking down Front Man, the murderous mastermind behind the competition.

With Squid game Set to end in 2025 after the third and final season, the series’ writer, director and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk deliberately ended the second season with an explosive cliffhanger. The latest episode will leave fans wondering what’s in store for them. Hwang told Netflix’s Tudum it was the “second chapter of the showdown between Gi-hun and Front Man.”

“The fierce battle between the two worlds (of Gi-hun and Front Man) will continue until the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year,” Hwang said in a letter to fans earlier this year.

Here’s what else viewers should know about Season 3.

When does season 3 start?

Although no specific date has been set, Netflix says fans can expect the third season to stream sometime in 2025. Hwang told Entertainment Weekly that he originally envisioned Season 2 and Season 3 as “a single story,” but decided to split them into two separate seasons after realizing how many episodes he needed to complete the saga .

“I originally envisioned Seasons 2 and 3 as one story,” he said. “That’s how I wrote it. But there were too many episodes. So I thought it would be better to split it in two.”

Seasons 2 and 3 of Squid game were reportedly filmed back to back.

What’s coming in season 3?

When creating the final two seasons of Squid gameHwang told Entertainment Weekly that he knew fans were eager to find out what happened to Player 456 after he won the grand prize. Season 3 will clarify open questions.

Hwang, who made history as the first Asian to win an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series, said: “I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after we left him doing what he does at the end of the first season , what measures he is taking to put an end to the games. As a creator, writer and director, it was almost my mission or my role to continue to tell this story… the story that I wanted to tell finally reached its conclusion at the end of the third season.”

Season 3 will deal with the fallout from Gi-hun’s failed attempt to put an end to the games, Hwang told Netflix’s Tudum: “Firstly, he couldn’t convince his fellow players to stop Squid Game through a vote,” Gi-hun also failed to “compete with physical force and strength against the hosts of the game.”

Audiences can also expect to see a new game Red light, green lightin season 3.

The final credits scene in Season 2 is “actually a little teaser of Cheol-su, who, like Young-hee, is a new giant doll that we will introduce in Season 3,” Hwang told Entertainment Weekly. “And that is also a reference to the most exciting game of the third season. Even though it hasn’t been shared yet, I hope everyone is excited to get to know Cheol-su and the new game.”

Who won’t return?

Hwang told AP that he had “more time for more characters” in seasons 2 and 3 compared to season 1. Recognizing that “the world has changed,” this time he decided to include younger characters to better reflect the difficulties of being in tons of debt in your 20s and 30s.

“Now I feel like there are fewer decent jobs for young people and they feel like hard work won’t even get them into the middle class,” he said. “They want to hit the jackpot, so they invest in cryptocurrencies. In Korea, there are many young people in their early 20s and 30s who are turning to online gambling. I wanted to show what society is really like today.”

But more characters could potentially mean more deaths.

Among the most shocking deaths in Season 2 is Gi-Hun’s ally Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), also known as Player 390, who is shot by Front Man in the final minutes of the finale. Given his on-screen death, it’s unlikely that Jung-bae will return for the third season.

How will the series end?

When Hwang teased what awaits Gi-hun in Season 3, he compared his resourceful protagonist to the villainous and seemingly unstoppable frontman.

“Will (Gi-hun) still believe that he will be able to convince others and leave together or end the game?” Hwang asked Netflix’s Tudum, referring to Gi-hun’s inner conflict . “Or will he give in and become a completely different person? Someone like the frontman who thinks, ‘What can I change?’”

Actor Lee Byung-hun, who plays Front Man, also told Tudum: “It’s almost like they (Gi-hun and Front Man) are betting against each other. …The frontman asks questions like: “Do you really think you can finish the game?” Do you really think there is hope in people? Do you really think the world is going to change?’”

As for what Hwang thinks about Season 3, the writer-director told AP: “It’s better than Season Two.”

Squid game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.