Squid Game Season 2's Matrix Reference Explained & How It Foreshadows Season 3

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 2.

Squid Game season 2 refers to one of the most well-known metaphorical terms from The Matrix in an early crucial scene, seemingly foreshadowing how Gi-hun and the Front Man's stories will end in season 3. Serving as the penultimate installment to its three-season run, Squid Game season 2 mirrors its season 1 in more ways than one. Its primary appeal comes from the titular games, and it also features another brutal round of season 1's iconic "Red Light, Green Light" game.

However, despite sharing many similarities with season 1, Squid Game season 2 etches its own identity by walking through a new set of games, featuring a fresh cast, and drawing pop culture nods to movies like The Matrix. Given how The Matrix has captured the zeitgeist since its release in 1999, it is not surprising Squid Game season 2 also draws some inspiration from its ideas and story beats. What makes this reference to the sci-fi movie intriguing, however, is that it potentially spoils where Gi-hun's story will ultimately go in Squid Game season 3.

The Front Man's Matrix Analogy Explained: What The Blue & Red Pills Mean

The Front Man Offers Gi-hun A Choice In Squid Game Season 2's Opening Arc

Like The Matrix's Neo spends years looking for Morpheus, Squid Game's Gi-hun puts years into tracking down the people who run the games. When he finally finds the Front Man of the games, like Neo finds Morpheus, Gi-hun gets a choice between the blue pill and the red pill. Explicitly citing The Matrix, the Front Man implies that Gi-hun has the option to take the blue pill and live the rest of his life comfortably with the wealth he acquired through the first games. Or, he can take the red pill and face the harsh realities of the games again and try to stop them.

Interestingly, Squid Game's creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, also compared Gi-hun's "unfinished quest" with Neo's from The Matrix (via THR). "He could have just lived happily on, but he chooses to take the pill where he becomes aware of the Matrix and struggles to get away from it,” he said, explaining how Gi-hun settles for the path of most resistance by taking the metaphorical red pill and agreeing to re-enter the games. Similar to Neo, however, Gi-hun fails to understand what lies ahead of him and goes tumbling down the rabbit hole like Alice.

Like Neo, Gi-hun Refused To Go Back To His Old Life And Wants To Stop The Games

Gi-hun's Choice Highlights The Paradoxical Nature Of His Free Will

Throughout Squid Game's runtime, Gi-hun's journey has been marred with similar red pill/blue pill choices, where he has the option to back off from the games and live with the bliss and ignorance of not knowing what would happen if he won them. Yet, even after returning home from the first "Red light, Green light" game in season 1, Gi-hun goes back to the game's venue, highlighting how his choices were not merely emblems of autonomy and freedom but driven by other complex external forces.

Merovingian's quote, "Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without," from The Matrix Reloaded, perfectly captures the paradoxical nature of Gi-hun's choices and sense of free will in Squid Game. Even though Gi-hun believes he is taking the red pill by choice in both Squid Game seasons 1 and 2, his decision to enter the games has some inevitability to it. In season 1, he is given the opportunity to enter the games because, like other participants, he, too, is in a helpless situation where he is financially desperate and emotionally broken.

Though his choice is framed as an individual decision, it is influenced by a lack of better alternatives. Similarly, in Squid Game season 2, Gi-hun returns to the games, believing he has more agency after planning his revenge against the organizers for years. However, like Neo in The Matrix, he walks into the unknown, knowing little about the many variables that will rule his life once he takes the red pill. This shows how his choice was more constrained than he realized.

Squid Game's Front Man Has Chosen The Comfort Of The Games Over Truth

The Front Man Is More Like The Cypher From The Matrix

Even though the Front Man offers Gi-hun a choice between the blue and red pills in Squid Game season 2, he is more like the Cypher from The Matrix. As one of the leading forces behind the game's management, he understands how the games function and exploit the powerless. Like the Cypher joins forces with Morpheus and the crew, the Front Man also teams up with Gi-hun and the heroes. However, he ultimately betrays them because he finds comfort in having power and control, believing the games give people the opportunity to change their otherwise "free" but doomed lives.

Gi-hun's Neo Parallels Hint At How Squid Game Will End For Him & The Front Man

Gi-hun's Story Already Seems To Be Driven By A Prophecy

"You didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. You're here to try to understand *why* you made it," says the Oracle in The Matrix Reloaded, helping Neo understand the importance of finding his greater purpose. Gi-hun experiences a similar Oracle-esque moment in Squid Game season 2 when the Shaman, Player 044, tells him that he has survived so long for a reason. She says this during the Mingle game, hinting that Gi-hun's great purpose will have something to do with the pregnant player, Kim Jun-hee.

Even though Gi-hun takes the red pill in Squid Game season 2, his actions do not reflect change. He still makes massive gambles to serve his own purpose of revenge and seems more concerned with winning against the game's organizers. Towards Squid Game season 2's ending arc, he even risks putting the lives of others on the line to prioritize his vision of justice and vengeance over collective well-being.

Like The Matrix's Neo, his journey will only end when he transcends his own desires and selfish inclinations. This is where the Shaman's prophecy will come into play. If Gi-hun understands why he made the "choice" and dies while saving even one player, like Jun-hee, he might dismantle the system the games thrive on by proving that selflessness and empathy are more powerful than greed and manipulation. This, in turn, would mark the Front Man's defeat in Squid Game because he seems to have lost all hope in humanity after his stint in the games.