Squid Game Season 3's Jaw-Dropping Cameo Teases The Future Of The Netflix Series

This article contains a discussion of suicide.

Stop playing that game of ddakji or reading this article if you're not caught up on all of Netflix's "Squid Game," including its third and final season which dropped in its entirety on the streamer on July 27. You've been warned: spoilers lie ahead!

In the first two seasons of "Squid Game," the South Korean television sensation helmed and created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, we meet a mysterious character known only as "the Recruiter." Played by Gong Yoo, we don't know much about the guy except that he was once a guard in the mysterious games, which take place on a regular basis on a remote island and during which 456 players fight to the death to win 4.56 billion won — enough money to solve almost any problem a person can imagine. His whole job is tracking down these desperate people in need of a financial lifeline and making them play an impromptu game of ddakji, a Korean game involving throwing paper cards at cards of another color ... and he raises the stakes of the bet each time until the person can't possibly repay their new, additional debt. That's when he makes the offer about the games themselves, and the deal is done.

Gong Yoo's Recruiter closed out his time on the series in Season 2 after encountering some allies of the show's protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and ultimately dies by suicide — and in the final moments of the original "Squid Game" series, we see his replacement. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you; the new Recruiter is Cate Blanchett, a two-time Academy Award-winning actress widely considered to be the best performer of her generation.

Yeah, that sure is Cate Blanchett as the Recruiter in the last few minutes of the third and final season of "Squid Game" — and more to the point, she exchanges pointed eye contact with Lee Byung-hun's character Hwang In-ho, who we know is the Front Man that controls the games as a whole, so she's a known entity.

Blanchett, of course, is one of our best living actors. With two Oscars under her belt — for her turn as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator" and the titular role of Jasmine in "Blue Jasmine," respectively — and nominations for "Elizabeth," "Notes on a Scandal," "I'm Not There," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "Carol," and "Tár," she's also one of our most celebrated performers ... and despite her overwhelming acting accolades, she also somehow finds time for popcorn fare like "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Ocean's 8." (Of course, she's brilliant in both.)

On the small screen, Blanchett has appeared on shows like "Documentary Now," "Mrs. America," and "Disclaimer," but the fact that she very well could be the new face of "Squid Game," so to speak, is enormous for the franchise. Add in the fact that a spin-off is apparently in the works, and it sure seems like Blanchett will be joining this twisted world.

In October of 2024, it was announced that David Fincher, one of the most revered directors in Hollywood who created masterpieces like "Zodiac," "The Social Network," and "Se7en," is working on some sort of "Squid Game" show, which is yet another exciting development for the apparent "Squid Game" franchise coming our way. Fincher and Cate Blanchett, as it happens, worked together in 2008 on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," so Blanchett's mere presence in the series finale sure seems to indicate that she and Fincher will be the ones at the forefront of this spin-off. It's also not out of the question that Lee Byung-hun could return as the Front Man, especially because, as we mentioned, the finale goes to great pains to make it clear that the two know each other.

In any case, based on the overwhelming worldwide success of "Squid Game," it's not surprising that it'll continue on past the original outing. What is a little surprising is the caliber of talent it's attracted to expand the universe. Until we get more stories set in this world, "Squid Game" is streaming on Netflix now.

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