Squid Game season 2: Release date, trailer, and everything to know

The Squid Game season 2 release date is finally here! The highly anticipated followup season of Netflix's most popular original series will make its premiere on Dec. 26, 2024. It's quite the Christmas present to give fans who have been waiting for the new episodes since 2021.

Ahead of the Christmas holiday drop, Netflix gave fans a Halloween treat (no tricks!) by releasing the official teaser trailer for season 2 on Halloween. In the tense clip, Seong Gi-hun a.k.a. Player 456 is seen stressfully leading new players through the games to little avail. He's hoping to expose these deadly games, but as the trailer reveals, that might not so easy.

Watch the trailer in the video below!

Along with the new teaser trailer, Netflix also shared additional information about the second season in a new synopsis. The streamer teases that the stakes have been raised as Seong Gi-hun seeks the truth and the real intentions of the "Front Man" have yet to be revealed. It's all adding up to a season that fans will be eagerly binge-watching to put the pieces together.

Here's the season 2 synopsis via Netflix's press release:

"Season 2 raises the stakes, with Lee Jung-jae reprising his role as Seong Gi-hun, also known as Player 456. With a hardened demeanor and the scars of past games, Gi-hun is on a desperate mission to expose the deadly truth of the competition. Yet, his warnings go unheeded, and tensions rise as fellow players question his intentions. The teaser also shows the return of Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man, whose true motivations remain cloaked in secrecy, while Wi Ha-jun’s Hwang Jun-ho is back, driving the narrative forward as the relentless detective on a mission of his own."

Squid Game season 2 release date

Squid Game season 2 premieres on Dec. 26, 2024. We still have a few months to wait, but it's obviously going to be worth it! Lee Jung-jae, who stars in The Acolyte in addition to Squid Game, shared that Squid Game season 2 will arrive in December 2024 earlier this year, and he was right.

We know Netflix shows and movies typically get quite the bump around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. Squid Game season 2 should be one of the biggest Netflix seasons of all time. The first season is officially the biggest Netflix show of all time with more than 2.2 billion hours streamed and more than 265 million total views, according to Netflix.

In April during Netflix's Q1 earnings call, Sarandos listed several Netflix shows coming to Netflix in July-December 2024, and Squid Game season 2 was one of the last shows he mentioned.

"And, they'll even be getting a longer look at what's coming up in the second half of the year, which is, again, returning seasons of Cobra Kai, Emily in Paris, The Night Agent, Outer Banks, and Squid Game, our big one."

Well, Sarandos was right!

The final season is coming in 2025

While announcing the Squid Game season 2 release date, Netflix also shared some other big news. Squid Game is renewed for season 3 on Netflix, but it will be the final season of the Netflix original series.

Along with that, Netflix confirmed Squid Game season 3 has already been filmed, and it will be released on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Obviously, it's a big bummer that Squid Game is coming to an end, but it's obviously great that the series has already wrapped production. That should cut down the wait time between the seasons, but we're still expecting to see Squid Game season 3 near the end of 2025. Netflix isn't going to roll out these seasons back to back!

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk shared a letter with fans about the second and third season of the series. We shared the letter below!

Squid Game season 2 cast

We shared the Squid Game season 2 cast below:

• Lee Jug-jae as Seung Gi-hun
• Lee Byung-Hun as Front Man
• Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-Ho
• Gong Yoo as The Salesman
• Yim Si-wan
• Kang Ha-neul
• Park Sung-hoon
• Yong Dong-guen
• Park Gyu-young
• Jo Yu-ri
• Kang Ae-sim
• Lee David
• Lee Jin-uk
• Choi Seung-hyun
• Roh Jae-won

Netflix confirmed some of the Squid Game season 2 cast at TUDUM 2023. Weeks later, Netflix followed up and shared the full cast of Squid Game season 2.

We’ve seen many of the new cast members in other Netflix shows, including Park Gyu-young from Sweet Home, Kang Ae-sim from Move to Heaven, Lee Jin-uk from Sweet Home, and Won Ji-an from D.P. 

While some of the Squid Game season 2 cast appeared in the first season, there will be many cast members from season 1 who will not return for season 2 because their characters were killed in the season. We saw A LOT of characters die during the challenges and outside of the challenges during the season. Jung Ho-yeon, Lee Yoo-mi, Park Hae-soo, and others will not return in season 2.

During an appearance to promote her new album Love All, singer/actress Jo Yu-ri spoke about her role in Squid Game season 2, according to The Korea Times. “It’s an honor just to be on the same set with all these legendary actors. I’ll do my best and I hope you’ll appreciate my acting when the second season is released,” she shared.

Squid Game season 1 ending, explained

At the end of Squid Game season 1, Seung Gi-hun wins the games and the prize of $456 million but at a tremendous cost. Gi-hun realized what was happening during the competition and how sick it was, while his ally Sang-woo was willing to literally backstab allies in his quest to the ultimate prize. After Sang-woo kills Sae-byeok, he faces off against Gi-hun in the final challenge. When Gi-hun appears to have won, he decides he can’t live with the burden of killing Sang-woo, who takes his own life in remorse of his actions and allows Gi-hun to win without the burden of killing him on his conscience.

Gi-hun doesn’t stop, though. He ties up some loose ends, finds out his mother died, meets with Oh Il-nam, who is surprisingly still alive. He explains the origin of the competition, which he founded. Gi-hun tries to help out the families of Sae-byeok and Sang-woo, but it’s unsatisfying to him. At the end of the season, he confronts the Front Man at the end of the season, seemingly promising his revenge.

We also see that Hwang, the detective, who is trying to find out what’s really going on is the brother of the Front Man. When he tries to sound the alarm on what’s going on, the Front Man shoots his brother. It looks like Hwang has been killed, but we know that’s not true. Hwang is alive! And, he’s confirmed to return in season 2.

What is season 2 about?

For the first time, Netflix also shared the synopsis for Squid Game season 2 when announcing the release date of the season.

We shared the synopsis below, via Netflix press release shared with our team at Netflix Life.

" Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it."

It seems like Squid Game season 2 will likely revolve around Gi-hun’s journey to stop the games. It’s unclear if he’ll be a contestant on the next round, but it’s definitely possible. It would be more interesting to see a new group of contestants, while also watching Gi-Hun try to stop the games.

And, it seems like that's going to happen, based on the synopsis.

We also will see the return of Hwang. Netflix confirmed that Wi Ha-jun, who plays Hwang, will be back in the new season. We don’t know how Hwang survived, but he was shot and left for dead by his brother. Perhaps, he and Gi-hun will join forces? That would be great to see!