Squid Game season 3 teases a shocking twist: the person who may finally end the deadly games isn’t Gi-hun—but a masked guard with a secret.
With Squid Game season 3 on the horizon, fans are gearing up for the final chapter of the smash-hit South Korean survival series. After making international waves in 2021 with its high-stakes, high-body-count format, Squid Game evolved into a global cultural phenomenon—and it’s about to come full circle. But while Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, has long been the show’s central protagonist, season 2 planted the seeds of a major shift. The person who may ultimately end the games once and for all isn’t Gi-hun at all—it’s newcomer Kang No-eul, played by rising star Park Gyu-young.
In season 2, Gi-hun continued his rebellion against the deadly game’s organizers, hoping to reach the top and take the whole operation down. His efforts, however, were derailed by the reemergence of the mysterious Front Man, who not only manipulated the rebellion’s momentum but also inserted himself into the games, forming an unsettling connection with Gi-hun. The season ended in bloodshed, with many rebels dead and Gi-hun left with few options. Even if he survives another round, the odds are increasingly stacked against him.
That’s where No-eul comes in.
Initially introduced as a struggling young woman with a compassionate heart, No-eul shocked viewers when she appeared not as a player, but as one of the masked guards—tasked with enforcing the deadly rules. Her role gives her access to areas Gi-hun never could reach and, more importantly, to the people pulling the strings behind the scenes. But unlike the other enforcers, No-eul is different. She treats players with humanity, questions the brutality of her fellow guards, and even shows discomfort with their darker motives—including organ harvesting.
No-eul’s storyline suggests she’s not just another cog in the machine—she might be its undoing.
In one of the most emotional arcs from season 2, No-eul is shown forming a connection with a young girl who meets her while she’s working as a costumed mascot. That same girl’s father is later revealed to be a player in the new round of games, desperately competing to afford treatment for his daughter’s illness. In a cruel twist, No-eul is assigned to eliminate him after an attempted uprising—but some subtle clues in the finale hint that she may have spared his life, setting up her eventual turn against the very system she serves.
With her dual identity as a compassionate outsider and an insider with access, No-eul has the perfect position to destroy the games from within. She doesn’t need to win to survive. She doesn’t need to follow the rules. And she might just have the motivation—and the moral clarity—to burn it all down.
While Gi-hun remains a central figure, season 3 could very well shift the spotlight to No-eul as the true hero of the story. Her character arc is ripe for a full-circle moment: a woman who entered the games as an enforcer, only to become the unlikely savior for those still trapped inside.
As Squid Game prepares to take its final bow, fans should keep their eyes on the pink mask—not just the red jumpsuit.
