As if the Squid Game Season 3 ending wasn’t dark enough, Front Man star Lee Byung-hun has opened up about his interaction with Cate Blanchett’s recruiter and the gut-wrenching message behind it.
Hwang Dong-hyuk’s masterful Netflix series has drawn to a close, with Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) final choice appearing to change the mind of Front Man. Some may have felt their confrontation wasn’t given enough screen time, but Squid Game has always been a show that has trusted the gaps.
Many moments are left open to interpretation and speculation – it’s one of many reasons it’s arguably the best Netflix show ever made. Nuance is key. All that being said, Front Man’s backstory is still murky, and it’s something Byung-hun would love to explore if given the chance.
In a conversation with THR, he said he and Dong-hyuk had discussed a Front Man spinoff since the start of the show, and that “to look at the Front Man with a full character study would be a very fun thing to do… That’s a story I’d be very willing to tell.”
Front Man’s final Squid Game Season 3 scene hides a deeper despair
Let it be known that this is pure speculation at this stage, but it’s nice to know the actor would be willing if a Front Man series ever did get the greenlight.
Elsewhere in the interview, Byung-hun discussed the moment his character comes across Blanchett’s recruiter in LA, saying that while Gi-hun restores Front Man’s faith in humanity, he loses all hope when he sees Squid Game’s horrifying legacy is being continued.
“The director and I talked a lot about this scene… What’s interesting is that when I first read the script, I had a different impression. I thought the Front Man had already known that there was another game – exactly the same – unfolding in another country,” Byung-hun explained.
“But I asked the director, just in case, and he told me, ‘Please play the scene by imagining that you didn’t know she was there.’ This was really confusing for me, because I got a very different impression from the script and we were quite close to filming at that point.”
After their ongoing discussions, the tone he decided to go for in that scene was as follows: “As the series started, the Front Man had nearly no hope left in humanity – there was only a tiny little shred of goodness left in him, subconsciously.
“But through his journey with Gi-hun, he was able to nurture that sliver of hope, and by the end, as his Game came to a close, he’s trying to look at things differently, thinking, ‘Maybe Gi-hun was right; maybe there’s something still there.’
“And he’s trying to reach this sense of closure, and the potential for a new beginning – and then he sees this other recruiter, pulling new players into the Game. And now he realizes that this never ends. It’s all going to just keep going.
“So, that sense of bitterness is the main feeling he’s experiencing in that moment.”
Dong-hyuk has made it clear that he never intended to give viewers a happily ever after with Squid Game Season 3, as the Netflix show has always upheld its critique of capitalist culture.
While Gi-hun’s sacrifice was a moment of hope for humanity, this final flourish also had an important message.
“Through the story of Gi-hun and his sacrifice, I wanted to convey the ideas of hope and also of sacrifice, and how we should never let go of it no matter how difficult things get,” Dong-hyuk said in a separate interview with THR.
“With the last scene, I also wanted to, however, highlight that the system is so strong and deeply rooted that it’s not something that can be easily dismantled, and therefore it requires all of our continued efforts and strong will.”
Read more about why this VIP rule was changed for Squid Game Season 3, find out what we know about the American spinoff, and why Squid Game Season 4 won’t happen.
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