Many fans are wondering where is Squid Game Season 2 Episode 8, as the second season has only seven episodes instead of matching Season 1's nine.
The hit Netflix show's sophomore run features a plethora of twists and turns, dialing up the stakes for Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) as he returns to play the game and find a way to destroy it from the inside.
Squid Game Season 2's first two episodes mainly revolved around Gi-hun's efforts to track down The Recruiter and the Front Man while the five episodes of the thriller series beyond that spent a good chunk of their runtime inside the mysterious island as Player 456 tries to save as many lives as possible.
Where Is Squid Game Season 2 Episode 8?
Squid Game Season 2, Episode 8 is nowhere to be found, and the show's creator has a good reason why the installment is absent.
Speaking with Deadline in December 2024, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk shared that Season 2, Episode 7 served as a good point to end the current season, noting that he felt there was "a big turning point" in the narrative during that time:
"I wrote seasons two and three at the same time, and we were in production for both simultaneously, and currently we are in the post-production process for Season 3. When I was writing the script for the two seasons, I felt like there was a big turning point or an inflection point, and that was the end of episode seven, so I thought that it would do it justice to have a separate season after that. That’s why I had first seven episodes as Season 2 and then the rest of Season 3."
Aside from confirming that they are in the post-production process for Season 3, Dong-hyuk also revealed that both seasons were in production simultaneously.
Squid Game Season 1 had nine episodes, and it reached the finish line by completing all the rounds in the infamous Squid Game, with Seong Gi-hun coming out on top.
It also had room for one more major twist after Squid Game Season 1 revealed that the old man (Oh Il-Nam) who was introduced as Player 001 was actually the game's creator.
In a separate interview, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told Cinemablend that he envisioned Seasons 2 and 3 as a "single series" while pointing out that the story became too detailed and complex to contain it in one season:
"No other particular reason than that I originally envisioned it as a single series, so both seasons two and three as a single series when I was writing it. But then, as I wrote the story along, it became to be too many episodes and too long of a story because you see Gi-hun's journey where he returns to the game, but also he goes through a revolt, and that is actually the climax of that storyline, where he tries to create an uprising, but then that all goes to failure."
The series creator said that Gi-hun's revolt falling through and losing Jong-bae (his best friend) is "another important climactic event" in the first half of the season:
"And I also saw that aspect of it as yet another game as well, and so I thought that we would divide it into two seasons to have that – Gi-hun's revolt going into a failure, him ending up losing his best friend, that itself being yet another important climatic event in the first half of the season, so into season two."
Dong-hyuk acknowledged the fact that ending Season 2 in Episode 7 "would just be the right adequate moment to rest" while indicating that Gi-hun's failure combined with his "immense sense of guilt" will be his character arc in Season 3:
"And to put a stop there, I thought that would just be the right adequate moment to rest and have it continue on in the further season because after Gi-hun experiences that event, based on the failure, as well as that immense sense of guilt, you're going to get yet another character arc from Gi-hun. So I thought it would be better to divide that for another season."
Squid Game Season 2 has more than enough major plot twists, and the already-confirmed Season 3 is expected to have more.
Squid Game Season 3 Release Window & Story Explained
Squid Game Season 2 ended with the Front Man killing Jong-bae right in front of his best friend, Seong Gi-hun, which cemented the fact that the players' revolt ultimately failed.
The season also had a mid-credits scene teasing a much more dangerous version of Red Light, Green Light where two huge dolls disguised as motion detectors are stationed in the front and the back areas of the game room.
With Gi-hun being captured, the Front Man (In-ho) may let him suffer by allowing him to watch his friends play the final rounds of the games.
The massive conflict between Gi-hun and In-ho is set to be the major clash that will happen in Season 3, especially after the Front Man decides to join the games to show how wrong Player 456 is about the fact that the selfish ways of humanity can't be changed anymore.
Squid Game Season 3 is also confirmed to be released sometime in 2025, and the fact that it will be the show's final season could set the stage for more epic twists and revelations that could lead to a grand ending for Gi-hun's journey.
All episodes of Squid Game Season 2 are streaming on Netflix.
