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The final season of Squid Game premieres on Netflix on June 27, and anticipation is through the roof. Season 2 made history with 68 million views in just 72 hours, breaking the record previously held by Wednesday. Now, Season 3 is expected to reach even greater heights.

Since its debut in 2021, the show has followed hundreds of desperate people lured into a deadly contest disguised as children's games. They're taken to a secret island where losing means death, and the only way to win is to survive horrific, morally twisted challenges. Many must choose between others' lives and their own survival, a sharp reflection of real-world inequality and competition.

The series didn't just make headlines, it reshaped global viewing habits. Squid Game popularized Korean shows worldwide, made subtitles more mainstream, and sparked trends like green tracksuits and dalgona candy-making.

As a result of its massive influence, Netflix announced a $2.5 billion investment in Korean content through 2027. Korean shows now account for 9% of total Netflix viewing hours second only to U.S. content.

Season 2 ended in chaos with Player 456, Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae), leading a failed revolt. His friend Park Jung-bae was executed by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who had disguised himself as Player 001. Other key characters were killed, including Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun, aka T.O.P.), stabbed during a fight with crypto scammer Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan). But several players are still alive and returning in Season 3: Gi-hun, Myung-gi, Myung-gi's pregnant ex Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), ex-marine Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), transgender contestant Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), and the mother-son duo Geum-ja and Yong-sik.

Season 3's trailer also hints that Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook), who was shot during the revolt, may have survived after all.

The final season will have six episodes and is expected to push players into even more disturbing decisions. In a past interview with IndieWire, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk shared that if he ever made a spin-off, it wouldn't be set after this final season. “I would want to show what the characters did during the three-year gap between Seasons 1 and 2,” he said.

Even though Squid Game ends in 2025, its impact on pop culture, from fashion to streaming trends, will definitely live on.

Watch the Squid Game Season 3 trailer here: