Major Squid Game spoilers follow.

It’s no secret that Netflix’s Squid Game has captivated audiences all around the world.

In its continuous dominance of popular culture in 2021, the South Korean series has inspired everything from real-life robot dolls to amateur video game adaptations, in addition to shattering streaming records and actually altering the game for how Netflix calculates the success of its shows.

Netflix’s Squid Game has been nothing short of a gold mine – but where does it go from here? What happened to the key characters in the film? Will there be a second season of Squid Game, and what may happen if the plot continues?

Below, we endeavour to answer all of your burning questions and more, starting with a breakdown Squid Game’s ninth and final episode, One Lucky Day.

Squid Game: the last game clarified

How about we start with a re-cap of what occurs in the last game. Scene 9 starts not long after Sae-byeok is killed on account of Sang-charm, leaving him and Gi-hun as the final players in the game. The last test is the eponymous Squid Game, which sees Gi-hun face Sang-charm in a grisly (and stormy) blade battle. The previous successes, however stops not long prior to finishing the game to rather conjure Clause Three of the arrangement – ‘if most of players consent to forsake the game, the game closures.’

Gi-hun and Sang-charm in Squid Game

This second is a significant one for Gi-hun. Dissimilar to Sang-charm, who spends going before scenes plummeting into a more obscure and hazier perspective, Gi-hun keeps a level of ethical quality and humankind all through the inexorably harsh games. In this showdown, however, Gi-hun uncovers a flitting ruthless streak that permits him to overcome Sang-charm, yet he still eventually will not be completely adulterated by the game, saving Sang-charm’s life and choosing to relinquish the prize cash and get back.

Clearly, things don’t turn out along these lines. Gi-hun gets back to Sang-charm to educate him regarding his choice, however the last wounds himself in the neck – apparently an outcome of his responsibility. Sang-charm’s final words demand that Gi-hun acknowledges the prize cash and helps his mom.

Now, the game is finished. The VIPs leave, the prize cash dives from the roof and Gi-hun is pronounced the champ by the Front Man, who salutes him on his triumph. While being gotten back, Gi-hun asks the Front Man for what reason he has the game, to which he answers, “you individuals are ponies” – which means it was made for the motivations behind sport and wagering. This is halfway obvious, however further thinking is added later on in the scene.

The battle to change

Gi-hun gets back to discover 45.6 billion won in his ledger. On the stroll back to his loft, he passes Sang-charm’s mom, who asks after her child’s whereabouts. Gi-hun says nothing – it’s not satisfactory whether she deciphers this quietness as affirmation of Sang-charm’s passing.

After making it home, Gi-hun finds that his own mom has kicked the bucket. Once more, this is a significant second for the person, since his mom’s wellbeing demonstrated the impetus for his support in the game in any case.

After a year, Gi-hun remains damaged by his experience. He seems ghastly and devastated, riding the tram – in spite of his wealth – to a broker who lets him know he has scarcely gone through any of his cash. In transit out, Gi-hun inquires as to whether he can get 10,000 won – a callback to a standard solicitation he made in the show’s initial scenes.

Gi-hun gets a few blossoms at a close by ocean side, just to find one more game greeting concealed inside the bouquet. This time, it requests that he meet his ‘gganbu’ (the shoptalk term for ‘partner’ in Korean, first referenced in scene 6) at a structure on Christmas Eve.

The genius

There, he discovers Player 001, Oh Il-nam, who Gi-hun had assumed dead after scene 6’s fourth game. Il-nam, lying wiped out in a medical clinic bed, uncovers himself to be the driving force behind the game, clarifying that he made it as a method for accomplishing pleasure from his exhausting existence of wealth and as a trial of mankind’s inborn goodness – he reminds Gi-hun that candidates killed each other for bringing in cash for themselves.

Il-nam additionally uncovers that the games depended on those played in his own youth, and that he took part in this specific cycle of the game for wistfulness. This clarifies why Il-nam perceived the format of the fake town in the fourth game – it was demonstrated on his own youth home.

Il-nam in Squid Game

Il-nam then asks Gi-hun to play one final game with him, a last trial of mankind’s decency. They look outside to see a vagrant; Il-nam bets that no one will help the man before the clock strikes 12 PM. Gi-hun wins – the vagrant is supported by a passing resident – yet Il-nam bites the dust. It’s muddled whether Il-nam sees this thoughtful gesture before he passes, yet the translations drawn from this scene are two-crease.

The primary: Il-nam passes on reasoning he has dominated the match, and that there is no humankind left on the planet. The second: Il-nam kicks the bucket subsequent to acknowledging he has lost the game, seeing a thoughtful gesture that licenses him to at long last pass on settled. The show doesn’t explain either situation, yet this scene in any case addresses the ethical problem at the core of Squid Game.

As it turns out, in the accompanying (extremely concise) scene, the gold hare veil in the Front Man’s home is uncovered to have had a place with Il-nam – we see the elderly person putting it on his dressing table, prior to telling the Front Man he will take part in the games himself.

Satisfied guarantees

An obscure measure of time elapses, however Gi-hun tidies himself up and satisfies his vows to Sang-charm and Sae-byeok. He removes Sae-byeok’s sibling from the youngsters’ home and into the consideration of Sang-charm’s mom, leaving both a portion of the prize cash.

We then, at that point, see a red-haired Gi-hun at the air terminal, en route to visit – or live with – his girl in the US. Strolling to the terminal, Gi-hun sees somebody playing ddakji with a similar scout who welcomed him to the games in scene one. He endeavors to seek after the scout, however can’t contact him on schedule and on second thought takes the greeting given to the man.

Gi-hun in Squid Game

Not long prior to loading onto his plane to the US, Gi-hun calls the number on the greeting. The collector perceives his voice as Player 456, and tells him not to get “any ridiculous thoughts.” Gi-hun pivots, probably starting his journey to uncover the game’s coordinators.

Where does Squid Game go straightaway?

Squid Game season 2 hasn’t yet been authoritatively affirmed by Netflix – maker Hwang Dong-hyuk has “different things he’s dealing with” at the present time – however season 1’s last scene actually passes on a lot of space to conjecture where the show could be going straightaway.

In addition, despite the fact that Hwang himself appeared, from the start, reluctant to discuss a subsequent season (he let The Sunday Times know that it wouldn’t occur), the runaway accomplishment of the show – which, alone, has added 4.4 million new supporters of Netflix – appears to have urged its maker to reevaluate his underlying hesitance.

In ensuing meetings, Hwang has showed up progressively sure of what could occur next in Squid Game. In a new talk with The Hollywood Reporter, he said he does truth be told have a couple of thoughts for what a subsequent season could resemble, before last let The Guardian know that he really has “an extremely significant level picture” of a potential subsequent story. Anyway, what may this resemble?

The most clear plot string to investigate is Gi-hun’s journey for vengeance. Clearly, offered the show’s last chance, the person is infuriated by the game coordinators’ proceeded with quest for oppressed contenders, and the idea is that Gi-hun needs to uncover them. “[We could] investigate more with regards to how he will explore through his retribution with individuals who are planning the games,” Hwang told THR.

A special picture for Netflix hit show Squid Game

Should the show choose to head toward this path, it could do as such in two ways. The first may see Gi-hun endeavor to persuade others regarding the game’s presence, uncovering its defilement and brutality from an external perspective – he is, all things considered, a lot more extravagant man now. The second could see Gi-hun return to the actual game, with more noteworthy information on its inward operations and extreme targets.

As impossible as that subsequent situation sounds – it doesn’t actually bode well for Gi-hun to get back to a game which nearly cost him his life – the previous, more practical situation would probably dispose of quite a bit of what makes Squid Game so engaging: the actual games.

Clearly, then, at that point, the show’s maker and screenwriters have some work on their hands in the event that they desire to rehash its allure while likewise keeping up with account rationale. Netflix is at present “attempting to sort out the right construction,” alongside Hwang himself, so it’s no big surprise we’re probably not going to see a subsequent season for somewhere around a couple of years.

Other conceivable plot strings incorporate looking at the destiny of Jun-hon, the secret cop who finds the Front Man to be his sibling, In-ho. In spite of the fact that he was shot and hence tumbled off the edge of a bluff, there’s a possibility Jun-hon endure the experience, and considering that we actually don’t know In-ho’s inspiration for turning into the game’s Front Man, this appears to be a logical account string for the show to investigate.

Hwang has shown an interest in this string, as well. “I’d prefer to investigate that storyline – what is happening between those two siblings?,” he told THR.

Strangely, the show’s maker has likewise alluded to the chance of following the secretive selection representative in more detail. “I could likewise go into the account of that scout in the suit who plays the round of ddakji with Gi-hun and gives him the card in the principal scene,” Hwang told THR in a similar meeting.

The scout in Squid Game

Somewhere else, however, Squid Game’s first season doesn’t leave a ton of inquiries unanswered – primarily in light of the fact that, indeed, a large portion of its characters end up dead. All things considered, we may hope to see Gi-hun, Jun-hon, In-ho and the scout return, however any semblance of Sang-charm, Sae-byeok and Il-nam aren’t returning (or thereabouts the laws of life and demise would propose, at any rate).

In that capacity, we’re moderately in obscurity with respect to where Squid Game may choose to go straightaway. While we’d love to see a greater amount of the show’s dangerous riddles, we additionally don’t have any desire to see Netflix commission a trashy second run for capitalizing on its prevalence.

If it does, Squid Game may follow in the footsteps of HBO’s True Detective and Big Little Lies, for example, which were unable to capitalise on the success of their superb initial seasons and so fell by the wayside.

Nonetheless, Netflix’s financial clout, along with Hwang’s continuous engagement in the programme, should ensure that Squid Game season 2 – if it happens – keeps the show’s large fan base’s attention.

After all, wouldn’t it be a crime to axe your most successful show after only one season?