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News.com.au
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Spoiler alert! Here's the huge Australian A-lister that appears in the Squid Game finale
****Spoilers for the new season of Squid Game follow**** The season finale of Squid Game season 3 features the cameo of a huge Australian Hollywood star. The one and only Cate Blanchett makes a surprise appearance in the final scene of the hit Korean thriller as a recruiter for the deadly competition. Picking up in the wake of a failed revolution, the final season of the Asian version of the hugely popular show follows the struggle between Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who's determined to take down the games once and for all, and Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who desperately wants to break Gi-hun's faith in humanity. In the final scene of the show, Front Man finds himself in a car in Downtown Los Angeles, and while stopped at a light, he hears some familiar sounds: the thwap of two ddakji tiles hitting the ground followed by the sharp crack of a slap across the face. Front Man rolls down his window and sees a suited Blanchett playing ddakji with a seemingly desperate man in an alleyway. Blanchett looks up and exchanges a knowing glance with Front Man, who pulls away as Blanchett's attention returns to her new recruit. 'We thought having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing,' said Squid Game Director Hwang Dong-hyuk. 'And as for why Cate Blanchett, she's just the best, with unmatched charisma. Who doesn't love her? So we were very happy to have her appear. We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did,' he continued. 'If Gong Yoo is the Korean Recruiter, I thought she would be the perfect fit as the American Recruiter, bringing a short but gripping and impactful ending to the story.' He went on to reveal that Blanchett had very limited time to film the cameo, so much so that she shot the entire thing in one take. 'During the shoot, she reminded me of what true talent looks like. Even with just a few looks and lines, her performance was mesmerising,' he shared. 'She was amazing at playing ddakji. I believe she successfully flipped the ddakji with her first try, and we were able to get that one long take right away.' But what exactly does Blanchett's cameo mean for the future of the show? Quite a bit, it turns out, considering where Netflix plans on taking the franchise next. Season 3 is the last for the Asian version of Squid Game, but it's far from over. An English-language spin-off is being developed by director David Finch, who has previously worked with Blanchett on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Blanchett's appearance raises numerous questions, however, like have the Games always had international counterparts or have they been forced to move them after they were nearly discovered by authorities at the end of the final season? Netflix.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Squid Game's final season hailed as 'harrowing and heartbreaking' by critics - with an ending 'so jaw-dropping it beggars belief'
Squid Game 's finale season has been hailed as 'harrowing and heartbreaking' by critics - with an ending 'so jaw-dropping it beggars belief'. The hit series quickly became a global phenomenon after the very first season premiered on Netflix back in 2021. While fans had to wait three years for the second season, the third and final hit screens on Friday, June 27. Squid Game season three has been praised by critics and received some raving reviews for its thrilling tale, which scores a whopping 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Metro rated the show 4.5 out of five stars and gushed how the ending made their 'jaw drop' and described the season as 'darn near-perfect'. While the Guardian rated a more average three out of five stars but raved the ending was so surprising it is 'entirely beggars belief'. Gizmodo dubbed the season 'harrowing' and 'heartbreaking' noting Squid Game ends 'this vicious final chapter in a memorable, very terminal way'. However, it notes that there also seems to be a 'tease for more to come' at the end. Meanwhile Indie Wire praised director Hwang Dong-hyuk's 'unflinching vision that carries Squid Game over the finish line'. However, not everyone was so impressed and the Hollywood Reporter dubbed the ending 'unsatisfying'. While fans have already shared their verdicts online and one penned on Rotten Tomatoes: 'So far so good, just watched the first episode! I'm still deeply connected to all the characters and can't wait to see what happens next. Will update my review as I keep watching.' Another added: 'The suspenseful directing, story, music, and emotional acting by the actors were all great, and the ending was also excellent. It was so fun that I regret not seeing it again.' 'Eps 2 and final eps were my favs. Had me on edge throughout. Final game was epic, couldn't guess what was gonna happen. Love! Heartbreaking but an apt ending,' someone else said. Though it didn't escape criticism and one viewer penned: 'Rushed season, lackluster writing, horrible ending. This season was so anticipated and the tools were there for a really good season, but went completely off the rails. Squid Game writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed the real reason why the upcoming series of the Netflix hit has been split into two parts 'The character building, suspense, and drama brought people back. All you're left with at the end of season 3 is people who you don't recognise. Do better Netflix.' Squid Game writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk previously revealed the real reason why the season has been split into two parts. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline at the Squid Game season three premiere, Hwang Dong-hyuk, 54, said: 'I originally didn't plan for it to be split into two seasons. 'I was thinking that it'd be a single one, but in the process of writing it, it came out to about 13 episodes, which I thought was too long to put out as a single season. 'And I also thought it was too long when you look at current trends. 'So I thought that we wanted to split it, and if we were to split it, at the end of episode seven, when Seong Gi-hun hits rock bottom after his rebellion failed... 'I thought that was the just the right moment to sort of dividing into two chapters.; All seasons of Squid Game are available to stream exclusively on Netflix.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Summer sizzlers! It's the 20 hottest TV shows of the season
The big one. The uberviolent South Korean juggernaut – still Netflix's most popular show ever – reaches the end point … and Player 456 is still in the game. What will happen after the armed rebellion? Will he figure out he's playing alongside Frontman? And will he make it out alive? The show's creator Hwang Dong-hyuk opened up about the denouement this week, telling fans it's bleaker than ever. Apparently after watching, we'll be left shaking and asking ourselves: 'How much humanity do I have left in me?' One thing's for sure: there'll be no let-up. Expect gore galore. Out now, Netflix The one Lena Dunham fans have been waiting for. Eight years after the end of Girls, she makes a welcome return to television. The ever-excellent Megan Stalter – AKA the hilariously ditzy agent Kayla in Hacks – plays Jess, an American ad executive who is obsessed with classic British love stories. When her deadbeat boyfriend leaves her for an influencer who makes lipgloss – 'no one is fucking an influencer in the works of Jane Austen!' – she decides to take her broken heart to London in 'the Kingdom of United' and start over. When she arrives, she's devastated to discover that her new 'estate' isn't quite the verdant paradise she dreamed it would be. Promptly, of course, Jess meets her very own Mr Darcy – indie rocker Felix. 10 July, Netflix A teenager is panicked to find himself waking up in a mysterious institution full of youngsters who possess special abilities, and he has every reason to be scared – he's in a Stephen King adaptation. Given that the author was one of the inspirations for Stranger Things, and this tale of a totalitarian bootcamp for telekinetic children feels as though it's drawing on Eleven's backstory, it has the sense of the author coming full circle. But if this stays true to his 2019 novel, we are in for plenty of creeping dread and commentary on Trump's America. 13 July, Prime Video A gorgeous will-they-won't-they romance that spans decades. Daniel is a music journo who has harboured a secret lifelong devotion to his first love Alison, who mysteriously disappeared from their home town Sheffield when they were teens. Decades later, they find each other online and, though they're both married, start sending each other tunes from their youth. The stars – Jim Sturgess and Rory Walton-Smith as older and younger Daniel, and Teresa Palmer and Florence Hunt as older and younger Alison – are wonderful across the board, and the soundtrack is stuffed with 80s bangers from New Order to the Cure. It's a yearning look at what it's like to marry the wrong person – and why first love might be right all along. 15 July, BBC Two Such is the prevalence of cosy crime – and the star wattage of Mark Gatiss – that this postwar comedy-drama has been recommissioned before the first season has even started. Gatiss stars as Gabriel Book, owner of Book's bookshop, a kooky gent with a passion for puzzles – what else! – who helps the police solve murder cases. But the plot thickens when he gives mysterious ex-con Jack a job in the shop and lets him move into their attic ('He's like Mrs Rochester – only slightly more butch!'). An arch, high camp slice of crime-solving fun. 16 July, U&Alibi Based on the beloved novel by Esi Edugyan, this is the story of how a boy called George Washington 'Wash' Black escapes from slavery. At the age of 11, he is spotted poring over a feat of engineering and plucked from the cotton fields by a white scientist named Titch who is trying to make an almighty flying machine. Soon Titch spots his talent for drawing and keeps him on as an aide until he's grown up – but when he tries to leave, Titch's brother sets a bounty hunter on him. Sterling K Brown stars and executive produces what is clearly a passion project. 23 July, Disney+ Keeley Hawes is a retired assassin on holiday with her son (Freddie Highmore) – and he wants answers. The questions he's nurturing on their tense Greek island sojourn: Why are you so frustratingly distant? How do you explain this unexpected new information on my paternity? Wait, who are those terrifying people? And what do you mean we have to go on the run? Should be lots of tense, action-packed fun. July, Prime Video Bereft fans who are desperately missing Race Across the World and those who are giddy with anticipation for The Celebrity Traitors in autumn – ie, all of us – should look no further than Destination X. This wild adventure gameshow overseen by Rob Brydon takes contestants, lumps them in a 'blacked-out' bus and drives them to a mystery location somewhere in Europe. Turning the whole continent into essentially a giant chess board, they have to take on challenges to try to establish where they are – and the closest guess gets to stay in the game. July, BBC iPlayer Yes, humanity is the dominant animal on Earth. But since homo sapiens' development 250,000 years ago in Africa, we have no written record of 98% of our journey. Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi tries to change that in this five-part BBC science series, by using DNA breakthroughs and fossil evidence to dive into our deep historical past. If its claim that it will provide a totally new perspective on what makes us human is to be believed, this will be a gamechanger. July, BBC One From Cracker to Time, a Jimmy McGovern show is always a must-watch – even one as harrowing as this. Anna Friel stars as Anna, whose brother Joe (a truly devastating Bobby Schofield) sexually assaulted his young nephew Tom a few years ago. As we meet Joe, he is leaving prison a shell of a man and goes to stay at a halfway house run by Sister Katherine, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, for therapy and horrifying realisations about the abuse he himself has faced. A brutal look at a family torn BBC One This super fun buddy-comedy starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and their incredible chemistry has flown under the radar but it's well worth catching up ahead of its second outing. Best mates Sylvia and Will have always got up to high jinks … and this season, there will be mishaps from exploding eyeballs to kayaking through rivers of excrement, plus one of the funniest scenes of the year courtesy of Sylvia's rogue dog. 6 August, Apple TV+ The hotly anticipated follow-up to Tim Burton's staggeringly popular Addams Family spin-off sees Steve Buscemi join as the new headteacher of Wednesday Addams' school, Nevermore Academy, and Joanna Lumley pitch up as her grandmother. Paired with the return of Jenna Ortega's award-winningly intense take on the titular character, yet more creepy, kooky and altogether ooky fun awaits. 6 August, Netflix Noel Hawley, the brains behind the ace TV adaptation of the Coen Brothers' Fargo, takes the helm for this small-screen leap into the world of Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic. It's set on earth and serves as a prequel to the original 1979 movie, Alien. When a space ship crash lands, the contents turn out to not exactly delight people who like to go through life without an alien clasped to their face. Given what Hawley achieved with Fargo, this could go down as the greatest outing for Scott's franchise in decades. 12 August, Disney+ Disney's dramatisation of Knox's 2007 conviction and later acquittal of the murder of Meredith Kercher sees Knox herself feature as an executive producer, alongside Monica Lewinsky. Sharon Horgan stars as Knox's mum and Grace Van Patten plays Knox, after her recent role in steamy US drama Tell Me Lies. Given how gripped the world was by the last telling of this tale – Netflix's 2016 film, Amanda Knox – it is sure to be all anyone talks about for a month. 20 August, Disney+ Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy star as the liberal British prime minister Abigail Dalton and populist French president Vivienne Toussaint in this classic slice of globetrotting Netflix fare. When Dalton's husband Alex is abducted on a Médecins Sans Frontières mission in French Guiana, the only one who can ensure his release and safe return is Toussaint. But the abductors have something dodgy on her too … 21 August, Netflix Move over, Elton! The most excitable man on social media, trainspotter Frances Bourgeois, ditches his biggest passion – squealing with glee at passing locomotives – to pursue his other childhood obsession: becoming an astronaut. He gets G-force training from none other than Tim Peake, Mr Space Oddity himself, and sees if he has what it takes to pass muster in space. Sure to be hours of unadulterated joy in a non-gravity environment. August, Channel 4 Like The Traitors meets probate (stay with me), this Channel 4 show sees contestants compete to inherit a fortune left by a glamorous benefactor known only as 'the Deceased'. Viewers will know her better, however, as 'Liz Hurley'. Rob Rinder draws on his legal past to play her will's executor, and leads contestants through challenges, while they attempt to convince each other that they should be the sole heir to the cash. Made by the company behind the Winkleman smash, expect big, backstabby things. August, Channel 4 Jaime Lannister is William the Conqueror in this BBC historical epic. Or at least Game of Thrones's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau dives back into the land of dingily lit castles to tell the tale of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings. James Norton, Juliet Stevenson and Clémence Poésy also star in an eight-parter that shows the clash that set the course of a continent for 1,000 years. Brace yourself for the arrow through the eye scene! August, BBC One Jacob Elordi is Dorrigo, a young medic engaged to be married and about to be shipped off to war when he has a love affair with his uncle's wife, Amy. He falls for her utterly when she shows him her favourite three-word Sappho poem, 'You burn me'. Across two timelines, we see the horrors of war as he ends up a PoW in Thailand forced to build the train lines that became known as the 'death railway'. We also see him as an older surgeon (played by Ciarán Hinds) still haunted by the hell of his capture and the love of Amy. Tender, sexy TV that almost throbs with desire – for what you can't have, and what you once had. TBC, BBC One/iPlayer Like ER crossed with 24, this thrilling medical drama plays out in real time hour by hour in one busy and very bloody shift for the doctors and nurses of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. Created by John Wells of ER renown, and starring Noah Wyle (ditto – Carter fans assemble!) it's a high-octane reunion indeed. Wyle plays Dr 'Robby' Robinavitch, the attending who has to contend with constant calamities, rats on the loose in the ward and multiple newbies who are out of their depth … and then there's an emergency at a festival nearby. Already one of the most gushed-about shows of the year in the US, The Pitt urgently needs a UK air date – and stat! Date and channel TBC
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Squid Game is back to being dark, bloody and brilliant
As it at last wriggles across the finish line, Squid Game (Netflix) finds itself in a sticky spot. The tricky task confronting the final series of Netflix's ultra-violent thriller about a group of desperate, destitute citizens competing in a series of bloody contests is to recapture the zany, almost comedic energy of its sensational first season from 2021 – a challenge it never quite accomplishes, though not for lack of effort. Action-heavy, packed with twists – and the occasional sprinkling of Hollywood stardust – it's a well-intentioned and on-the-whole successful conclusion to a brutal South Korean blockbuster that has captured the world's imagination. Fans will be generally satisfied, even allowing for several well-signposted 'shocks' yanked like a reluctant rabbit from a blood-drenched hat. Squid Game has also, of course, added a reported $900 million to Netflix's bottom line. Which is presumably why executives went to such lengths to coax the show's initially reluctant creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, into turning what was supposed to be a one-off drama into a franchise. He said yes, but there was always a sense of an auteur shackled to a production line. These six concluding episodes are an improvement on last Christmas's dour second season, which replaced the satirical edge of the original with an onslaught of gunplay seemingly aimed at fans of Keanu Reeves's John Wick. Taking care not to waste viewers' time, Hwang sensibly gets straight into the fray. As we catch up with seemingly unkillable Contestant 456 (Lee Jung-jae), his short-lived uprising against the evil billionaires behind the show's brutal survival puzzles has been suppressed, his friends shot dead in front of him. Rather than send 456 to meet his maker, the game's masked 'Front Man' In-ho (Lee Byung-hun) has decided the upstart (real name, Seong Gi-hun) must continue to participate in the trials, alongside fellow competitors such as pregnant Kim Jun-hee and the mother-son duo of Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun). Awaiting them is another sequence of brutally absurdist contests. These have the now-familiar sinister, childlike names, such as 'Jump Rope' – and a first prize of around £25 million. There is no second prize. Unless a gory death counts. With the games continuing, renegade guard 011/Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) pushes on with her plot against Front Man and his wealthy backers, motivated by her trauma over her separation from her daughter in the outside world. Back on the mainland, Front Man's brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) proceeds with his frantic search for the hidden island hosting the games. Amid the bloodshed and gunsmoke, it is often forgotten that the original Squid Game had a tongue-in-cheek energy that, at times, veered towards a sort of violent camp. Much of the fun stemmed from the borderline infantile quality of the specific games. Red light / green light (move on red, bullet to the head) and a Korean version of tag took on a surreal quality when juxtaposed with wanton death and mayhem. That magic was lost in year two as the games were elaborate and a bit too try-hard. Third time out, the challenges hark back to the cartoonish cruelty of series one. Hwang Dong-hyuk also fulfils his promise that the tone would be 'more dark and bleak'. Nothing will recapture the sheer 'what the hell am I watching?' quality of a first season that came out of nowhere. But this is a satisfying sign-off – tied up winningly with a blood-stained bow.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Here's The Only ‘Squid Game' Season 2 Recap You Need To Watch Before Season 3
Squid Game Squid Game is coming to an end tomorrow with the release of season 3, not all that long after season 2 in December 2024. The reason being there is because both were shot back-to-back, and really, it was essentially one large season split in half. That said, December is still six months ago, and it's easy to forget what happened, including key details like who is actually still alive. Well, if you want a recap, a short one, an official one, Netflix has released probably the only Squid Game season 2 you need to watch: It's just under three minutes and has already been viewed three-quarters of a million times, so yes, this is probably the go-to, which includes the games, the deaths, and where things ended up in the end. Spoiler: not in a great spot with the Front Man revealed and the games soldiering on. Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said explicitly that we should not expect a happy ending for the show. He also said that this may not be the end of the show at all, per an interview with EW, even if this specific arc is done. But we may even return to the characters in a prequel spinoff: "I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff — not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] looks around for the recruiters," Hwang said. "There is that three-year period, and maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that. So that is some vague ideation that I have that could possibly be developed in the future." So yeah, we have that to look forward to, maybe, in let's say, 2029, at the earliest. As for recaps, if you do want one longer than three minutes, you can watch this 26(!) minute offering from Stan Lee Presents, going over the entire span of the show: Squid Game season 2 did not quite reach the viewership highs of season 1, but despite that, it is still one of the most-watched seasons of any Netflix show ever, and I expect things will increase given that we are finally at the final. That drops tomorrow, June 27, and we'll see how it all plays out then. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
