Squid game Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has announced a possible release date for the third and final season of the hit Netflix thriller.

The second season of the Korean-language series, in which hundreds of cash-strapped people compete in deadly games for a life-changing sum of money, was released on the streamer on December 26, three years after its record-breaking debut in 2021.

The new addition welcomes the return of Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun/Player 456, who seeks to infiltrate the games and put an end to them once and for all.

While the second season impressed critics and viewers with its new characters and storylines, its action-packed finale caused division as some questioned how it could end on such a major cliffhanger.

“Of course the audience would think, ‘Oh no. What will happen next? Give us the next episode right away,” Hwang confirmed in a recent interview with Weekly entertainment. “But I think because Gi-hun loses everything at that moment and all his attempts (to stop the games) fail, he goes through another character change. So I thought this was the best place to end the season.”

However, he speaks out in a new interview diversityHwang, who also wrote and directed, shared an update on the upcoming season’s release.

“At this point, anything I might say will be a spoiler, so I want to be careful,” he said. “But what I can say is that after the launch of the second season, I think we will soon announce the start date for the third season. I probably expect it to be launched in the summer or fall of next year.”

*Warning – spoilers for the finale of the second season of “Squid Game” ahead*

He explained that he had originally planned to write the second season’s story over a period of about eight to nine episodes, but “by the time I finished the story, it was over ten episodes, which I felt was too long to handle to accommodate them in a single season.” .”

“So I wanted to have a reasonable point where I could finish a second season and then move on to the third,” he continued.

Hwang went on to talk about all the obstacles that the series’ star Gi-hun/Player 456 faced, saying that all his failures led to one difficult climax – the death of his best friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan ). the hands of The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun).

“And thinking about Gi-hun’s journey, I think this is an appropriate moment to draw a line and give him a little closure to this long arc,” Hwang added, revealing that the third season will continue Gi-hun “has this great sense of guilt and failure weighing heavily on him.”

“How will Gi-hun continue his mission? This is the story that will continue to unfold,” he said.

Squid game Seasons one and two are currently streaming on Netflix.