Кадр з третього сезону «Гри в кальмара» / Netflix
The creator of «Squid Game» Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed the original plans for the end of the show’s third season.
The article contains spoilers for the third season of «Squid Game».
Initially, Hwang Dong-hyuk planned a more uplifting ending, but in the end he decided that it would be more appropriate to end the story on a sad note with a «powerful message».
As a reminder, at the end of the competition, Song Gi-hoon sacrifices himself to save Player 222’s child, while the arrival of the Coast Guard and Jung-ho forces the Frontman to destroy the island and end the games forever. At least in this location, as in the final scene, the ex-game host is on his way to the United States to deliver her father’s belongings and money to Gi-hoon’s daughter, when he runs into an American recruiter played by Cate Blanchett — it looks like the games have gone international.
«I don’t know if I can call it an original ending, but at first I had a vague idea of how I would end the story. And then it was about Gi-hoon finishing the game one way or another, staying alive and going to see his daughter in America,» Dong-hyuk told the The Hollywood Reporter. «But when I started writing the story, and when I started thinking more and more about what I wanted to convey in the ending, watching what was happening in the world, I thought that Heung was more suited to send this powerful and influential message to people».
Hwang also clarified that Blanchett’s appearance in the finale is not a reference to the spinoff or any sequel, despite the fact that he himself had previously discussed the idea of an interquel series about events between seasons
«I wrote this scene wanting to have an impactful ending to the show, not to open up space for something else… We thought it would be more dramatic and intriguing to have a woman as a recruiter. And why Cate Blanchett? She’s just the best, with unrivaled charisma. Who doesn’t love her? So we were very happy to have her. We needed a person who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, and that’s exactly what she did».
He also commented on rumors that David Fincher is creating an English-language version of the show for Netflix:
«To be honest, Netflix hasn’t officially told me anything about this. I only read about it in articles. I’ve always been a big fan of David Fincher’s work, ever since Se7en, and I loved his movies. So, if he were to make American Squid Game, I think it would be very interesting to see it. I’d definitely click on it right after it came out if that happened».
«The Squid Game» — is a survivalist series that originally followed a group of 456 financially challenged people who join a deadly competition to win a large cash prize. In the following two seasons, the winner of the competition, Song Gi-hoon (Lee Jong-che), returns to the deadly arena in an attempt to stop the competition for good and save the new contestants.
Despite the fact that the third season of «Squid Game» received mixed reviews — 79% from critics and only 50% from the audience (the lowest rating in the show’s history) — it quickly became the most watched Netflix premiere, collecting 60.1 million views in the first 3 days.