Squid Game Season 3 Ending Explained: An Oscar Winner Appears in Chilling Final Scene

Squid Game Season 3 closes with a chilling reminder: the games never really end — they just change players.

🚨 Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the ending of Squid Game Season 3 on Netflix.

Netflix’s Squid Game has always been about cycles — of violence, power, and desperation — but Season 3 delivers its most haunting full-circle moment yet in a final scene that’s as brief as it is unforgettable. And yes, that really was an Academy Award–winning actor.

The mysterious cameo appears in the very last moments of Squid Game Season 3, bringing new meaning to the show’s global reach — and its moral futility.

For our spoiler-free take, read our Squid Game Season 3 review here.

The Final Scene: An Oscar Winner Is the New Recruiter

The Squid Game Season 3 ending actually ends not with a bang, but with a slap — literally.

After what is ultimately a devastating standoff between Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), the story cuts to Downtown Los Angeles. Here, the Front Man, always doing what’s right according to the game, has given Gi-hun’s daughter her rightful inheritance.

Now, sitting in a car driving away from the girl, Front Man hears something unmistakable: the slapping sound of ddakji tiles. He rolls down his window and sees a suited woman playing the infamous street game with a desperate man.

The camera pans up… to Cate Blanchett.

Yes, that Cate Blanchett — the two-time Oscar winner known for TÁR, Blue Jasmine, and Carol. Now, the Australian actor is the American face of the deadly Squid Game recruitment network.

She briefly locks eyes with Front Man, who silently drives away, leaving her to continue the game. Her potential recruit, bruised and breathless, begs for another round. She smiles as the game continues.

What Does the Final Cameo Mean?

According to series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the casting choice was deliberate.

“We thought having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing,” Hwang told press. “And as for why Cate Blanchett — she’s just the best, with unmatched charisma.”

That charisma is on full display here. With only a glance and a few words, the recruiter brings unnerving poise to the role. As Hwang put it, “We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did.”

In stark contrast to Gong Yoo’s Korean recruiter from Season 1, this version is sleeker, colder, and arguably more ruthless — her mere presence is a reminder that this is no longer just a Korean phenomenon. The games are everywhere now.

Squid Game is international, just as people down on their luck are a universal phenomenon.

A World That Keeps Turning — No Matter Who Tries to Stop It

While Gi-hun spends Season 3 trying to dismantle the system from within, and Front Man grapples with his own ideology, the recruiter’s final scene implies the true horror: it doesn’t matter.

The Squid Game system survives them both.

Lee Byung-hun (Front Man) captured it perfectly in an interview:

“Despite all of the noble efforts of so many people, the world still continues as it was before.”

His resignation says it all. The Front Man may have won the philosophical battle — not by triumph, but by inertia. And now the games have expanded beyond Korean borders. The final cameo of Cate Blanchett in a Los Angeles alley is proof.

So… Will There Be a Squid Game Season 4?

There will not be a Squid Game Season 4 — at least not in the traditional sense. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk has indicated that the story of Gi-hun has reached its conclusion.

However, a Squid Game spinoff set in a different country is very much on the table. Given the shocking final scene featuring an American recruiter (Cate Blanchett), the United States seems like the most likely setting for what comes next.

The message is clear: while this chapter may be closed, the games are far from over — they’ve just moved to a new arena.