Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae, who played the role of Seong Gi-hun as player 456, has opened up about alternative endings of his character.
In a recent interview with Variety, the Korean actor candidly shared his initial reaction upon learning player 456’s fate.
Revealing he was aware about his character’s ending since season 2, he said, “I read everything the day that I got (script). That’s when I learned about my character’s fate and the ending. I was very shocked too, because it was not something I had expected to see.”
In the last episode of season 3, Seong gi-hun, the survivor of season 1 and 2, sacrificed his life to save the baby of player 222, played by Jo Yu-ri, in the deathly game, sky squid game.
Recalling a conversation with a director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, discussed alternative endings, “I remember speaking a lot about this ending with Director Hwang, and I asked him, “Did you have different endings in mind? Were there different versions?” And he told me that he did think of other endings.”
However, The Housemaid actor shared that the director believed this was the ‘right ending’ of Squid Game.
Before concluding, Lee Jung-jae, told the outlet, “He also shared with me that I shouldn’t look at Gi-hun’s sacrifice as just simply a sacrifice itself, but what if we could look at it as something that shows or symbolizes hope for humanity?”
Squid Game season 3 was released on June 27, 2025.