Squid Game creator confirms Cate Blanchett ending is not a teaser for US spin-off

4 July 2025, 20:29 | Updated: 4 July 2025, 20:38

Squid Game season 3's ending has nothing to do with an American spin-off series. Picture: Netflix

By Katie Louise Smith

Cate Blanchett's cameo at the end of Squid Game season 3 was not intended to set up an American spin-off.

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Squid Game season 3's ending has caused a LOT of confusion on social media. Does that mean there's going to be a season 4? Is it a teaser for the American Squid Game spin-off? Will Cate Blanchett be in it? Turns out, no... none of the above!

In the final scene of Squid Game season 3, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) observes two figures playing ddakji in an alleyway in Los Angeles. It soon becomes clear that it's an American recruiter, played by Cate Blanchett.

With reports that director David Fincher is set to helm an American version of the show at Netflix, viewers went into overdrive after seeing the scene and assumed that it was the first look at the future of the show.

However, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has now revealed that everyone has completely missed the point of the scene and has confirmed that it has nothing to do with any kind of spin-off series.

Read more: Squid Game creator reveals shock original ending for Gi-hun

Squid Game season 3's final scene shows the Front Man watching as an American recruiter plays ddakji with a potential player. Picture: Netflix

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hwang explained that the ending was meant to be a statement about capitalism. Instead, it's caused mass confusion as people believe it to be a direct teaser for a potential US spin-off.

"I didn’t end it on that note in order to deliberately leave room for further stories to happen," he said. "Gi-hun and Front Man, through these characters, the games in Korea have ended."

"And because this story started out with me wanting to tackle issues about the limitless competition and the system that’s created in late capitalism, I wanted to leave it on a note highlighting the fact that these systems, even if one comes down, it’s not easy to dismantle the whole system — it will always repeat itself."

“That’s why I wanted to end it with an American recruiter," Hwang continued. "And I wrote that scene wanting an impactful ending for the show, not in order to open rooms for anything else."

Will Cate Blanchett be in the American version of Squid Game? Picture: Netflix

In fact, Hwang says he hasn't heard anything about the potential American spin-off that is rumoured to be in the works with Fincher as the director.

"Honestly, nothing has been said to me officially by Netflix about this," Hwang said. "I’ve only read it in articles myself as well. I’ve always been a huge fan of David Fincher’s work — from Seven and I’ve loved his films. So if he were to create an American Squid Game, I think that would be very interesting to watch.

"I would definitely click on it immediately after it’s released, if it were to happen."

As of right now, there has been zero confirmation from Netflix about the American version of Squid Game.