Will There Be a ‘Squid Game’ Season 4?

Squid Game Season 3 has been touted by Netflix as the final season, but is that true? TV fans know all too well that some of the best loved shows can come back from the dead. There are always renewals, spin-offs, prequels, sequels, and even reboots. Not to mention the fact that Squid Game Season 3 ends in a way that definitely leaves the door open for, well, more Squid Game competitions.

So what is it? Has Squid Game been cancelled? Would Netflix really kill its most popular show? Will there be a Squid Game Season 4? Will there be an American Squid Game?

Here’s everything we know about the future of Squid Game on Netflix…

**Spoilers for Squid Game Season 3, now streaming on Netflix**

Squid Game Season 3 ultimately does end the saga of the Korean Squid Game and our main guy, Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae). Although creator/writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk has finished the story he started back in 2021, it’s obvious that Netflix isn’t done yet. The final moments of Squid Game Season 3 tease multiple directions the franchise could go in the future.

So will there be a Squid Game Season 4? Will there be an American spin-off, maybe something like Squid Game USA? “Squid Game America”?? Will we learn more about the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun)? Most importantly, though, what is Cate Blanchett doing in Squid Game?!?

Here’s everything we know so far about a potential Squid Game Season 4 and beyond…

Is There Going to Be a Squid Game Season 4 on Netflix?

Nope! Squid Game Season 3 really is the final season of Squid Game. At least, it’s the end of the original Korean version of Squid Game.

“Season 3 is indeed a finale, and you’ll be able to feel that once you watch,” Squid Game showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk told Entertainment Weekly. “But I’m not trying to say that I’m going to close the door to spinoffs or sequels altogether because they say never say never.”

Hwang also told EW that he’s been tinkering with an idea for a spin-off project.

“I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff — not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between Season 1 and Season 2,” he said. “There is that three-year period, and maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [played by Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that. So that is some vague ideation that I have that could possibly be developed in the future.”

Of course, Hwang Dong-hyuk is not the only major filmmaker tinkering on an “ideation” for a Squid Game spin-off…

Will There Be an American Version of Squid Game?

At the very end of Squid Game Season 3, the Front Man journeys to Los Angeles to visit Gi-hun’s estranged daughter Ga-yeong (Jo A-in). He explains to the fourteen-year-old, who now goes by “Jenny,” that her father has passed away and gives her a box containing his belongings. Ga-yeong now has a blood-stained tracksuit marked with the number “456” and a golden credit card that can access what remains of her father’s fortune.

However, Ga-yeong is not the only person the Front Man sees in LA. He also sees an American Recruiter playing ddakji with an unhoused man in an alley. This American Recruiter is played by none other than movie star Cate Blanchett.

Blanchett’s appearance is already creating buzz about the long-rumored American version of Squid Game. Last year, Deadline reported that David Fincher was developing the project with writer Dennis Kelly for Netflix. Blanchett’s cameo seemingly teases that the show is not only happening, but she will appear in it. Or…does it?

Why is Cate Blanchett in Squid Game?

So is Cate Blanchett in Squid Game to hype the American spin-off? Uh, not so fast. Blanchett might not have anything to do with the project. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk explained the casting choice in a recent interview with Netflix’s in-house entertainment site, Tudum.

“We thought having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing,” Hwang Dong-hyuk said. “And as for why Cate Blanchett, she’s just the best, with unmatched charisma. Who doesn’t love her? So we were very happy to have her appear.”

“We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did,” Hwang added. “If Gong Yoo is the Korean Recruiter, I thought she would be the perfect fit as the American Recruiter, bringing a short but gripping and impactful ending to the story.” 

All of which is to say we’re probably getting an American Squid Game spin-off and there’s a good chance Cate Blanchett will reprise her role, but nothing is official yet.