'Squid Game' Creator Reveals Netflix Drama Had An Alternate Ending

“Squid Game” creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed that he was torn between two different scenarios when writing the ending of the hit Netflix drama. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he stated that the season almost concluded the opposite way.

“Squid Game,” which recently made headlines for being streamed for over 3 billion minutes, ended with Seong Gi-huna (Lee Jung-jae), known as Player 456, choosing not to get on a plane to see his daughter. In the finale, he turned around on the jet bridge and walked toward the camera, ultimately risking his life to seek revenge on the game that had taken the lives of more than 455 contestants.

According to Dong-hyuk, they initially considered seeing Gi-hun getting on the plane to reunite with his daughter. However, they ultimately chose a different path for the series.

“We constantly asked ourselves, is it really right for Gi-hun to make the decision to leave and go see his family, to pursue his own happiness? Is that the right way for us to really propose the question or the message that we wanted to convey through the series?” he explained.

Dong-hyuk said after a lot of consideration, they decided to end the drama on a cliffhanger to leave room for a potential sophomore season. “We came to the conclusion that the question that we wanted to propose cannot be done if he left on the plane,” he said.

“The question that we want to answer: why has the world come to what it is now?—can only be answered or can only be proposed if Gi-hun turned back and walked towards the camera. So that’s how we ended up with that ending in the finale,” he added.

In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Dong-hyuk revealed that “Squid Game” will have a second season.

“I almost feel like you leave us no choice,” he told the press. “There’s been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season.”

The first season of “Squid Game” is currently available for streaming on Netflix.