“Squid Game” final season gets premiere date, first-look photos tease 'graver consequences'

The end is finally in sight for Squid Game.

Netflix announced the premiere date for the third and final season of the hit Korean survival drama on Thursday, as well as revealed first look photos that tease "graver consequences" following the violent season 2 finale. The last episodes of the show will all drop on June 27.

According to the official synopsis, the final season "follows Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) after losing his best friend in the game and being driven to utter despair by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who was hiding his true identity to infiltrate the game. Gi-hun persists with his goal to put an end to the game, while the Front Man continues onto his next move and the surviving players' choices will lead to graver consequences with each round."

Related: Squid Game creator explains why season 2's trans woman character is played by a cis man

Creator/writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk promises to "bring the epic story to its deserved closure" in the final season, and to reveal the answer to the question: "Can we hope for humanity in the cruelest of realities?"

Season 2 ended on a devastating cliffhanger for Gi-hun after he tried to organize a rebellion against the Front Man and the guards. For a while, it looked like Gi-hun and his new allies in the game were going to pull it off, after they killed a legion of guards and stole their guns and ammo. But Gi-hun had no idea that Player 001 was actually the Front Man in disguise, who secretly sabotaged the rebellion and killed many of the players — including Gi-hun's BFF Jung-bae, a.k.a. Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), who was shot right in front of him in the finale's closing moments.

Related: Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun breaks down season 2's Front Man twist: 'Gave me the chills instantly'

"When you see the journey of Gi-hun, he tries many attempts to put an end to the game," Hwang previously told Entertainment Weekly. "The first attempt is, he tries to get backup to come and save him from the game. That fails. The second one is through votes — he tries to persuade everybody so they can leave together. That fails as well. And then, the third attempt was to carry out the revolt, which again fails. And as a result, he loses his best friend in front of his eyes."

Hwang knew that moment would pack an emotional punch and keep viewers interested until the final season premieres. "I thought that that would be just the right moment to end the story," he said. "Of course, those watching would feel like, 'Oh, no. What's going to happen next? Give us the next episode right now.' But I think that because, at that moment, Gi-hun loses everything, he fails all of his attempts, that is when he goes through yet another character transition. So, I thought that was the best place to end the season."

Related: Squid Game creator says he wrote season 2's mother/son duo before reality show version debuted

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The actor behind Gi-hun was shocked when he learned that's how season 2 ended for his character. "My first reaction was, 'How could you end the season at that point?'" Jung-jae said. "I think the audience would be dying to know what's going to happen next and some may be very angry, actually. Some may even curse that it's ending on such a cliffhanger. But I realized that a lot of people nowadays actually love bold cliffhangers."

But Seo-hwan, who first appeared as Gi-hun's friend Jung-bae in season 1 before returning in a major capacity for season 2, laughed as he admitted, "I actually really, really love that cliffhanger ending."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly