‘Squid Game’ Series Finale Cameo Explained

There’s a big surprise at the end of “Squid Game” that has nothing to do with who wins the big prize and who ends up dead.

Rather, it’s a cameo from a two-time Academy Award-winning actor that might just tease where “Game” is going next.

Here’s what to know.

Warning: Spoilers for all of “Squid Game” ahead!

Who makes a cameo at the end of the ‘Squid Game’ series finale?

After six episodes to wrap up the uber-popular series, a death of our major protagonist and a surprise winner of the games, “Squid Games” turned everything upside-down again with its post-game coda.

Set six months in the near future, we got to watch Player 456’s (Lee Jung-jae, who played Seong Gi-hun) bloodstained games jacket and a debit card with the remainder of his winnings (from Season 1) delivered to his daughter by the main figure behind the games, Front Man (In-ho, played by Lee Byung-hun).

But that wasn’t the last shot of Front Man: While he drove through the streets of Los Angeles post-errand, he paused and looked down an alleyway to discover a Recruiter playing the “slap” ddakji game that initiates new members into the Squid Game.

The Recruiter wasn’t the same person we’ve seen in the seasons of “Squid Game,” though. It was double Oscar winner Cate Blanchett.

Twist!

The Australian actor took home Oscars in 2005 for “The Aviator” and 2014’s “Blue Jasmine,” and recently shook up audiences with her killer talents in “Black Bag” (Peacock) and “Disclaimer” (Apple TV+). That’s some high-octane A-list power for a cameo role in the last episode of a series that’s just ended.

But has it?

What does her appearance mean for the future of the show?

Well, it either means “Squid Game” blew its budget in the last minutes, or expects to continue on.

In Season 1 we learned there are Squid Games being played all over the world, so why wouldn’t there be recruitment in Los Angeles, California?

There’s been buzz about a “Squid Game” spin-off for some time.

Last October, Deadline reported that an English-language version of the show was being developed with David Fincher, who’s directed such films as “Se7en” and “Gone Girl,” and was an executive producer and director behind “House of Cards,” which changed the streaming game for Netflix in 2013.

TODAY.com has reached out to Netflix for comment. But with the introduction of Blanchett into a potential “Squid Game” universe, all we have to say is — “Game” on.