Squid Game Season 3 Ending Explained: Baby Wins as Gi-hun Dies in Final Netflix Episodes

Netflix's global hit concludes with shocking deaths, brutal games, and Cate Blanchett's surprise cameo

Squid Game Season 3 arrived on Netflix June 27, 2025, bringing the world's most-watched Korean series to its devastating conclusion. The six-episode finale delivers the darkest chapter yet, culminating in an unexpected winner and the death of Player 456.

Player 222-Jun-hee's newborn baby-wins the games after Gi-hun sacrifices himself in the final round. The infant becomes the sole survivor when Gi-hun chooses to fall to his death rather than let the child be eliminated, telling viewers "We are not horses. We are humans" before plunging from the final tower.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk intended the baby's victory to symbolize hope for future generations and humanity's responsibility to create a better world.

Season 3 picks up immediately after the failed rebellion, with Gi-hun returned to the dormitory in a coffin typically used for dead players. Broken by Jung-bae's death and consumed by guilt, Gi-hun kills former ally Dae-ho by strangulation during the first game, blaming him for the rebellion's failure.

The Front Man deliberately keeps Gi-hun alive to psychologically torture him and destroy his faith in humanity. In flashbacks, we learn the Front Man was given the same choice years earlier-kill the remaining players or die-and chose murder, which began his transformation into the games' mastermind.

Hide and Seek: Players receive random red or blue balls, with red players becoming knife-wielding hunters tasked with killing blue players within 30 minutes. The game claims major characters including Hyun-ju, the Shaman, and forces the tragic confrontation between mother Geum-ja and son Yong-sik.

Jump Rope: Players must cross a narrow bridge while jumping over a massive spinning rope held by dolls Young-hee and new character Cheol-su. Jun-hee gives birth during the previous game but ultimately chooses to jump to her death rather than attempt the crossing with her injured ankle, leaving her baby in Gi-hun's care.

Squid Game in the Sky: The final aerial game requires players to push someone off each of three towering structures shaped like square, triangle, and circle. Only Gi-hun, the baby, and Myung-gi (the baby's father) reach this final round.

When Myung-gi attempts to kill his own daughter for the prize money, Gi-hun fights him and Myung-gi falls to his death. However, because neither pressed the start button, the rules require one more death per round. Gi-hun sacrifices himself, kissing the baby goodbye and placing her safely on the ground before falling backward to his death.

Jun-ho arrives with the Coast Guard just as the Front Man initiates the island's self-destruction, destroying all evidence of the games. The Front Man escapes with the baby and later leaves her with Jun-ho along with the prize money.

In the final scene, the Front Man drives through Los Angeles when he spots a woman in a gray suit playing ddakji with a man in an alley. The woman is revealed to be Cate Blanchett, playing an American recruiter who shares a knowing look with the Front Man.

This scene sets up the rumored American Squid Game spin-off series reportedly being developed by David Fincher, suggesting the games continue worldwide despite Gi-hun's efforts.

Season 3 marks the definitive end of the Squid Game story, with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk confirming no Season 4 is planned. The series concludes with the Front Man delivering Gi-hun's remaining prize money to his daughter in Los Angeles, while the baby-now the richest winner in Squid Game history-remains with Jun-ho.

Despite the protagonist's death, the ending suggests Gi-hun achieved a moral victory. His final act of selfless sacrifice proved to the Front Man that humanity retains goodness even in the darkest circumstances, answering the central question that drove their philosophical battle throughout the series.

The games may continue elsewhere, but Gi-hun's legacy lives on through the innocent life he chose to save.