The alternate ending to Netflix's Squid Game would've been better overall, but made season 2 pointless. Granted, when originally coming up with Squid Game, it's possible the creative team weren't envisioning it as a story ripe for follow-ups. Whether that was the case or not though, it's almost impossible to imagine season 2 not happening, even though Netflix oddly has yet to officially confirm it will. For his part, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has confirmed that he's developing season 2, but still, that's not the same as Netflix officially renewing the show.
Despite Netflix's silence so far, Squid Game - in both subtitled and dubbed versions - now stands as the service's most-watched show of all time, and the streaming giant choosing not to order more of it would be perhaps their oddest decision ever. Somewhere along the way though, it must've become clear to Hwang and company that there was more material to be mined from Squid Game than a single season, and also more to do with the character of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), the winner of the titular competition.
Gi-hun ends Squid Game with a stark new red hairstyle, and prepares to head overseas to reunite with his beloved daughter. That is until he sees recruitment happening for the next Squid Game, and proves unable to go off and live his life while more people are victimized by the organization Il-nam - aka The Old Man - created. This choice didn't sit well with a lot of viewers, and Hwang recently revealed that in the alternate ending, Gi-hun does indeed choose to board the plane and start a new life with his little girl. While that's a more dramatically satisfying conclusion to Gi-hun's story, it also would've left no clear entry point for Squid Game season 2, thus making its creation much more difficult.
On paper, a Squid Game season 2 doesn't necessarily need Gi-hun to exist. After all, a big part of its appeal was the game itself, and the novel concept of children's games - such as marbles - played with life or death stakes. Yet, after spending a season with Gi-hun, viewers have understandably become attached to him, and putting him at the center of Squid Game season 2 creates a strong hook Netflix can use to get its audience to come back. Plus, a completely new game with new players would come up against a feeling of been there, done that, as it would need to go through the same - or similar - dramatic motions as the game progresses.
With Gi-hun back as the protagonist, Squid Game season 2 is free to both revisit the game itself and look at its operation from a different viewpoint, as Gi-hun presumably tries to take down Squid Game and those who run it. That story feels like a logical extension of what fans saw with Squid Game season 1, and would serve to evolve the show into more than just an alternate South Korean take on Battle Royale. Having Gi-hun end season 1 by happily reuniting with his daughter would've been cathartic after all he'd gone through, but it would've slammed the door on the most logical path for Squid Game season 2 to follow. Whether Squid Game actually needs a season 2 is another debate entirely, but after its success, more seems inevitable.