The season one finale of 'Squid Game' explained and why we think fans can expect a season season

The ending of "Squid Game" is not as explosive as its first episode, but does leave some clues as to what might happen if the series is renewed for a second season.

"Squid Game" is Netflix's new hit Korean drama about 456 people unknowingly signing up to compete in death games for a chance to win enough money to pay off their debts.

Variety reported that Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the series has a chance of beating"Bridgerton" as the most-watched original showon the platform ever.

Whilst the contestants originally protest about how dangerous the challenges are, eventually they accept their fate after seeing how much money they can win.

In true, battle royale fashion, the games end with only one survivor. However, the season doesn't end there and the aftermath leaves many questions to be answered.

Halfway through the season, the show implies that there can only be one winner of the competition. However, this isn't apparent to the main characters until the final game.

After Cho Sang-Woo (Park Hae-soo) mercilessly kills Sae-Byeok (HoYeon Jung), the North Korean loner who was trying to win the money to reconnect her family, the final game comes down to a fight between Sang-Woo and the series protagonist Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae). The two must play Squid Game, the rules of which are explained at the beginning of the show.

Eventually, Gi-Hun has the upper hand, but before stepping to victory, he turns to attempt to stop the game, realizing the moral implications of winning. Still, he's not given a chance to stop the game because out of sacrifice for Gi-Hun, or cowardice to avoid dealing with the consequences of his own actions, Sang-Woo kills himself.

Throughout the games, Sang-Woo has mostly been looking out for himself so it's almost poetic justice that he sacrifices himself so that someone else wins the prize for which he risked everything.

Despite winning all the money, Gi-Hun is unhappy and goes back to the poor life he had before. That is until he discovers Il-Nam (Hideo Kimura), the old man who seemed to have died in episode six, is alive.

The re-introduction of Il-Nam came with some answers for why the games exist and who is behind them.

Il-Nam explains that the game came around because a group of rich people were bored and decided to bet on the cruel games as people bet on horse races, which we see Gi-Hun do in the first episode.

Il-Nam also said that his need for more thrill is why he decided to participate in the games himself before he dies from his terminal illness.

This ending, however, still leaves more questions than answers.

Did the police ever receive, Hwang Jun-Ho's (Wi Ha-Joon) messages after he went undercover in the games and exposed their crimes? Are the police paid to look away? How did Jun-Ho's brother, In-ho, go from being a contestant to one of the leaders of the games and how are the soldiers in red picked and trained?

Unfortunately, Il-Nam's death cuts off the chance for the audience to find out those secrets.

However, the ending implies that we may get an answer in a second season — if one is made.

Unfortunately, the writer-director of the thriller K-drama, Hwang Dong-hyuk, recently told Variety that he's in no rush to make a second season.

"I don't have well-developed plans for 'Squid Game 2,'" Dong-hyuk said in the interview. "It is quite tiring just thinking about it. But if I were to do it, I would certainly not do it alone. I'd consider using a writers' room and would want multiple experienced directors."

The ending of "Squid Game" not only leaves us with questions, but a clear mission.

After looking after the families of Sang-Woo and Sae-Byeok, Gi-Hun was about to board a flight to meet his daughter in America when he sees that another person was being tricked into the games.

Gi-Hun realizes he cannot sit idly by with his money and thus gets off the plane when the episode ends. Hence, a clear follow-up would probably be Gi-Hun trying to take down the new games.

Since its arrival to Netflix on September 17, the series has grown rapidly in popularity.

Variety reported that Netflix's co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, said that he was surprised by the series' success and it has a chance of beating "Bridgerton" as the most-watched Netflix show ever.

"We did not see that coming, in terms of its global popularity," Sarandos said after the series ranked as the No. 1 show worldwide on the service.

This surprise follows a number of Netflix foreign series that have been globally popular such as "La Casa De Papel ('Money Heist')," "Narcos," and "Dark."

In recent years, Netflix has been slowly building its K-drama and anime content and even had sections of their three-hour fan-event "Tudum" to present their upcoming series in both genres.

The success of "Squid Game" will probably mean that Netflix will double down on this content and hopefully, it'll inspire other streaming platforms to get in on that action.