Who dies in Squid Game season 3? Every death in order explained

30 June 2025, 20:27

By Katie Louise Smith

Squid Game season 3's body count is big and brutal – but which characters die? [Spoilers ahead!]

Squid Game season 3 is finally here and, while it delivers an absolute incredible finale, it is 100% the most brutal and heartbreaking season of the entire series. (Did you expect anything less from this show?!)

Picking up immediately where Squid Game season 2 left off with that deadly shootout against the guards, season 3 doesn't waste any time in ramping up the stakes as it dives head first into several new games.

But it's not only the players inside the games whose lives are at risk. There's also the storyline with No-eul and the guards, as well as detective Jun-ho and the crew trying to find the island.

But who dies in Squid Game season 3? And who makes it out alive? Here's the full breakdown of everyone who gets killed in the third and final season. And just to remind you again...major spoilers ahead!

• Read more: Who survives Squid Game season 3? Full list of survivors revealed
• Read more: Will there be an American Squid Game? How season 3's ending sets up spin-off

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for Squid Game season 3!

Who dies in Squid Game season 3?

As expected, hundreds of characters die in the final season of Squid Game. In season 3, the final few games take an absolutely horrific turn with players forced to murder others in order to survive.

There's also several deaths that happen outside of the games among the other storylines, including a handful of pink guards as well as some of the crew outside trying to locate the island.

Here's every major (and minor) character who dies in Squid Game season 3...

Every character who dies in Squid Game season 3:

• Three pink guards in the operating room - killed by No-eul.
• 110 players in the Hide and Seek game, including...
• Hyun-ju (120) - killed by Myungi-gi (333) during Hide and Seek,
• Seon-nyeo (044) - killed by Min-su (125) during Hide and Seek,
• Dae-ho (388) - killed by Gi-hun (456) during Hide and Seek,
• Yong-sik (007) - killed by guards after failing to kill a player during Hide and Seek.
• Guard number 16 (the organ-harvesting surgeon) - killed by No-eul.
• Geum-ja (149) - takes her own life.
• The guard dog at the Captain's house.
• 16 players in the Jump Rope game, including...
• Nam-gyu (124) - falls during the Jump Rope game,
• Jun-hee (222) - takes her own life during the Jump Rope game.
• Several mercenaries on the boat - shot and killed by Captain Park.
• Captain Park - shot and killed by detective Jun-ho.
• Masked Officer (Front Man's right-hand man) - killed by No-eul.
• 8 players during Sky Squid Game, including...
• Min-su - pushed off the edge during Sky Squid Game,
• Myung-gi - falls of the edge during Sky Squid Game,
• Gi-hun - sacrifices himself at the end of Sky Squid Game.

Does Hyun-ju (Player 120) die in Squid Game season 3?

The first major character to die in Squid Game season 3 is the beloved Hyun-ju. Hyun-ju teams up with Jun-hee (222) and Geum-ja (149) as they're placed into the blue team in the Hide and Seek challenge.

They successfully manage to hide from the red players and Hyun-ju even manages to overpower and kill two of them as they attempt to claim their kills.

While fighting one of the red players, Hyun-ju finds herself in a room with an exit door. She unlocks the door and is inches away from surviving the game but she instead opts to go back and find Jun-hee and Geum-ja.

Just as she opens the door to let them know she's found the exit, she's stabbed in the back by Myung-gi (333) and tragically dies. Hyun-ju's death is absolutely devastating, but she died a selfless hero trying to save her teammates.

Does Seon-nyeo (Player 044 a.k.a. the Shaman) die in Squid Game season 3?

It had to happen sooner rather than later, right? The Shaman meets a brutal end at the hands of Min-su after she's savagely locked out of the exit door by Player 100.

The Shaman insults a hallucinating Min-su who is high on one of Thanos' pills. She appears as a hallucination of Nam-gyu before him, insulting him and taunting him and he ultimately stabs her and kills her on the spot.

Does Dae-ho (Player 388) die in Squid Game season 3?

In episode 1, while discussing what happened during the revolt, Yong-sik tells Gi-hun how Dae-ho completely froze in place instead of retrieving the ammo. Gi-hun immediately turns on Dae-ho and targets him for the entire Hide and Seek game.

Towards the end, they finally come face-to-face. A brutal fight ensues, Gi-hun with his knife and Dae-ho with a broken blade. The tables turn countless times before Gi-hun gets the upper hand and corners Dae-ho.

Gi-hun then strangles Dae-ho who manages to take one last swipe by telling Gi-hun it's all his fault for what has happened, just seconds before Gi-hun strangles him to death.

Does Yong-sik (Player 007) die in Squid Game season 3?

If Hyun-ju's death wasn't heartbreaking enough for you, we're hit with Yong-sik's death immediately after.

Yong-sik and his mother Geum-ja end up on different Hide and Seek teams but they end up swapping sides, with Yong-sik taking the brutal task of having to kill someone away from his mother. They split up during the game – Geum-ja stays with Hyun-ju and Jun-hee (who gives birth during the game) while Yong-sik attempts to find someone to kill.

However, he doesn't have what it takes and, as the clock runs out, he starts to panic because he can't kill anyone.

Yong-sik ends up stumbling across his mother, Jun-hee and her baby just as they're about to unlock the exit door. A desperate Yong-sik then sets his sights on Jun-hee and attempts to kill her but Geum-ja begs him not too.

As he moves to kill Jun-hee, Geum-ja stabs him in the back. The clock runs out and the guards soon arrive to kill Young-sik as Geum-ja begs for them to spare her son.

Does Geum-ja (Player 149) die in Squid Game season 3?

In one of the most devastating twists of the season, Geum-ja takes her own live after the brutal events of the Hide and Seek game.

After begging the other players to stop the games in order to save the lives of Jun-hee and her baby, Geum-ja loses faith and breaks down.

She continues to look after Jun-hee and the baby and tucks them in as the players go to sleep for the night. She then has a conversation with Gi-hun about her son Yong-sik, taking blame for his death and believing she's the one who killed him.

When the players wake up the next morning, the guards carry a coffin into the room and discover that Geum-ja has taken her own life.

Does Nam-gyu (Player 124) die in Squid Game season 3?

Nam-gyu dies during the Jump Rope game. After losing Thanos' necklace containing the pills to Min-su, Nam-gyu begins to go through withdrawal and cannot compete without support from the drugs.

Min-su, who has also now started taking the pills to help him get through the games, taunts Nam-gyu with the necklace and throws it onto the bridge to make him go first.

As Nam-gyu scrambles over the jump rope to reach the pills but, as soon as he discovers there's no pills in there, he comes to a stand still and is swept off his feet by the rope, falling to his death.

Does Jun-hee (Player 222) die in Squid Game season 3?

After managing to survive four brutal games as well as giving birth to her baby girl, Jun-hee's Squid Game journey comes to a devastating end in episode 4.

Just before the Jump Rope game begins, Jun-hee (who is still recovering from giving birth just hours before as well as a fractured ankle) asks Gi-hun to take her baby across the bridge after the brutal decision to include the baby as a player is made.

Gi-hun agrees and makes it across, saving the baby's life. But Jun-hee hesitates and ends up being the last one to cross the bridge with just one minute left.

She ultimately decides that she won't be able to make it across, asks Gi-hun to save her little girl and then takes her own life by stepping off the platform and falling to her death.

Does Min-su (Player 125) die in Squid Game season 3?

After taking Thanos' drugs during the Hide and Seek game, Min-su becomes reliant on the substance to make it through the rest of the games. He makes it through to the final game (Sky Squid Game) but ends up going through withdrawal after he runs out of pills.

The group decides they're going to push Min-su off the first tower and, as Myung-gi approaches him with the metal pole, he hallucinates the return of Se-mi. He grabs on to the pole believing it to be her hand reaching out to save him but Myung-gi pushes him and he sadly falls to the ground.

Does Myung-gi (Player 333) die in Squid Game season 3?

After killing several players and making it all the way to the end of Sky Squid Game, Myung-gi forgets that, in order for him, Gi-hun and the baby (his daughter, who he shares with Jun-hee) to survive, they need another player to kill on the final tower.

Completely broken, desperate and left with no other options, he then turns on Gi-hun and tells him to hand the baby over.

Gi-hun believes that Myung-gi will kill the baby in order to win all the money, and Myung-gi almost proves him right when he dangles the baby over the edge.

After an intense fight, both Gi-hun and Myung-gi end up hanging off the edge of the tower – Gi-hun holding onto a metal rod while Myung-gi dangles from Gi-hun's jacket. The jacket rips and Myung-gi falls to his death.

Does Gi-hun (Player 456) die in Squid Game season 3?

It was inevitable really... As much as we all wanted to see Gi-hun survive his second games and be the one to end it once and for all, our complicated anti-hero sadly dies right at the end of the games.

After Myung-gi's death, Gi-hun believes he's in the clear but he quickly realises that the button to start the final round was not pushed, meaning Myung-gi's death was completely wasted.

Realising what he now has to do, Gi-hun pushes the button to start the round and then stands on the edge of the tower with the baby, staring at the VIPs box. He then puts the baby down, delivers one last message to the Front Man and the VIPs, and then falls off the tower to his death.

Gi-hun sacrificed himself to save Jun-hee's baby daughter, who ultimate ends up winning the games.

Read more about Squid Game here:

• Every Squid Game season 3 game and their rules explained
• How much is Squid Game season 3's 660 million won and 1.7 billion won in USD?
• Squid Game's Thanos actor breaks silence on the backlash to his casting
• Squid Game's Park Sung-hoon says he "feels relief" over incredible reaction to trans character
• Squid Game creator explains why show is ending with season 3

Squid Game 3 cast reveal what they took from the set!

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