The creator of Squid Game has revealed that the hit Korean drama was almost given a different ending to the one watched by millions of people around the world.
Eventually, though, Hwang Dong-hyuk opted to conclude the first season on a cliffhanger.
The gripping drama, which debuted on Netflix in September, follows a group of men and women who compete in a deadly competition in the hope of getting their hands on a hefty cash prize.
After winning the competition, protagonist Seong Gi-hun, who had previously been living in poverty, decides to give away a considerable portion of his winnings to the elderly mother of one of his deceased competitors, Sang-woo, who is now caring for the younger brother of another of his dead competitors, Sae-byeok.
Right at the end of the final episode, Gi-hun is seen walking away from a flight to see his daughter who now lives in the US, which begs the question: What is he up to and how will this play out in the next season.
But according to the show's creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, it could have ended a little differently.
Hwang told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview: "There was one, the other alternate ending, where Gi-hun would get on the plane and leave. And then there was of course the one where he would turn back and walk towards the camera."
He added: "We constantly asked ourselves, is it really right for Gi-hun to make the decision to leave and go see his family, to pursue his own happiness? Is that the right way for us to really propose the question or the message that we wanted to convey through the series?"
Hwang decided to have Gi-hun walk away from the flight because "the question that we wanted to propose cannot be done if he left on the plane."
He added: "The question that we want to answer — why has the world come to what it is now? — can only be answered or can only be proposed if Gi-hun turned back and walked towards the camera. So that's how we ended up with that ending in the finale."
