Will Thanos Be Returning In Season 3 of 'Squid Game'? Here's Why People Think He Survived

When Squid Game Season 2 landed in late 2024, it brought with it all the fervor, furor, and excitement that Season 1 brought when it completely captivated society back in 2021. The brutal series, which is a satire of capitalism, greed, and desperation, has managed to create an engaging continuing story despite being, at its core, about people willingly dying for money.

Now that Season 2 has wrapped up and people have picked their favorites, a rumor circulating online has lit a fire in the fandom. That rumor? That fan favorite Thanos, played by pop sensation-turned-actor Choi Seung-hyun, is in fact not dead and will return for Season 3. Here's what we know about the rumor, its validity, and what Season 3 will bring.

First, let's take a look at the rumor and identify its source. On TikTok, user @qariant compiled a video montage of all the "evidence" that has formed the backbone of this rumor. Including what appears to be a screenshot of the official Netflix account saying, "Our team is exited [sic] about bringing him back for Season 3," with a winking emoji.

Let's start with that bit of the rumor.

First of all, there's not much context for the quote.

Although people say online that it was spotted in an Instagram comment section from the official Netflix account, we could not find it after exhaustively searching Netflix's mentions of the character. It could exist, but there's one bit of information that makes us believe it's a fake: the word "exited." That word seems as though it should read, "excited." While official accounts are still run by humans and therefore fallible, it would be a glaring error, if real, and pushes it into the "fake" column for us.

Other "proof" includes quotes from websites that appear to suggest Thanos crawled off screen and survived, with one AI-generated Google summary of an article incorrectly quoting creator Hwang Dong-hyuk as apparently having said, "it was not the right time to see him off." However, the real quote, seen in this ScreenRant article, reads that it "was the right time to see him off."

There is also the fact that the injury he sustained, being stabbed in the throat, is generally not compatible with life in the absence of intense medical intervention. And since his number was displayed among players who died, we can fairly safely assume that Thanos has in fact died and will not be returning.

While we hope we're wrong, because who doesn't love Thanos, it seems as though his time in the series has concluded.

So if Thanos won't be back, what exactly does Season 3 have in store? The show has killed people in increasingly creative ways, and every game has our toes curling just a little further in our shoes with anxiety as we hold our breath.

Yet creator Hwang is nowhere near out of ideas or starved for creativity.

One thing we can confirm is that Season 3 should be out some time in 2025. The series appears to be mapped out already, which means that there should be fairly regular releases until it has concluded. As we reported earlier in January 2025, it seems that Netflix Korea accidentally leaked the release date as June 27, 2025.

Creator Hwang said in a letter to fans, "We’ll do our best to make sure we bring you yet another thrill ride." He added, "I am thrilled to see the seed that was planted in creating a new Squid Game grow and bear fruit through the end of this story."

While we can't predict the exact story line for Season 3, we know that the series has found a way to keep shocking, intriguing, and enthralling.

So we're ready for whatever Season 3 brings, and we're crossing our fingers for that June release.