Squid game 3: the alternative end revealed
The director and creator, Hwang Dong-Hyuk, says what he had initially planned and why he changed his mind.
Hwang Dong-Hyuk drew a magnificent conclusion to his Squid game.
Season 3 finishing the terrifying game delivered a particularly moving final. And yet it could have ended otherwise. The director had an alternative end in mind. Or more exactly, he initially planned a different end …
Attention spoiler!
In its current version, the end of Squid game sees Gi-hun (interpreted by Lee Jung-Jae) sacrifice yourself so that the baby of Jun-Hee/Number 222 (OJ Yu-Ri) And Myung-Gi/Number 333 (Yim Si-Wan) or symbolically, the last survivor of the game. After this ultimate gesture, In-hoalias the Front man (Lee Byung-Hun), comes to recover the child in the arena. He ensures his safety and gives him the entire 45.6 billion won jackpot. However, this end was not the one that the creator of the series, Hwang Dong-Hyukhad imagined at the start. In a recent interview with Variety, he reveals that he had long considered another outcome, very different.
“When I had an still vague idea of what I wanted to tell in the seasons 2 and 3, I had a different end in mind. But by advancing in writing, developing my characters, structuring the story and drawing Gi-Hun’s narrative arc, I realized that it should not end. That this end was better, fairer. So I deeply modified the scenario in relation to the initial idea. “
But then what was the initial end? Quite simply, Gi-Hun had to do the opposite …
In this abandoned version, Gi-Hun made a diametrically opposite choice by sacrificing the baby and becoming the last winner.
“In the final, Gi-Hun made a choice. And originally, when I thought about the direction that history would take, it actually made the exact opposite of this choice.”
Except that it would not have worked with the rest. First of all because Hwang Dong-Hyuk wanted Gi-Hun’s last gesture to have a direct impact on the Front man.
“The opposition between the Front Man and Gi-Hun begins in season 2”, continues Hwang. “It is a confrontation of values, of visions of the world. And season 3 will tell this ultimate duel – how these two characters have influenced and transformed each other.”
And then what prevents Gi-Hun from giving in to violence in the last test-beyond his promise to protect Jun-Hee’s baby, even when the father tries to kill her to win-, it’s a vision of Sae-byok (Hoyeon Jung), her friend of the first season. While he prepares to attack other players in their sleep, armed with a knife given by the front front, he sees Sae-Byeok appear.
“You are not that kind of person.”
This, simple but decisive sentence brings him back to himself.
“It is, I think, one of the most important replicas of season 1”, underlines Hwang. “This is what Sae-Byeok tells him when he is tempted to kill blood-woo in his sleep. These very simple words, pierce Gi-Hun and awaken his conscience, his humanity. I wanted this line to be the strength that stops it again. The link with Sae-Byeok is what saves Gi-Hun.”
Another end, another morality
The current version of the series shows a gi-hun faithful to its principles, even at the heart of hell. But the story could have changed in another direction, darker, if Hwang Dong-Hyuk had not revised his copy. Proof, once again, that Squid game is as much a series of survival as a deeply moral story.
