Netflix‘s much-anticipated season 3 of ‘Squid Game‘ will debut on June 27, 2025. The hit South Korean series, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, pits desperate individuals against each other in a series of children’s games with fatal consequences.
From Red Light, Green Light to the Glass Bridge and the emotionally devastating Marbles game, each round exposes the darkest parts of human nature. So, if your favorite TV characters were thrown into the brutal chaos of ‘Squid Game‘, who would outwit, outplay, and out-survive everyone else?
12. Jack Reacher From ‘Reacher’
Jack Reacher is an ex-military, built like a freight train, and smarter than he looks. Reacher doesn’t need allies. He’s a one-man wrecking crew with a moral code that only applies after he’s broken someone’s jaw.
Reacher is precise, efficient, and unflinching. The only twist could be that he might win the game and give the money away.
Related: ‘Squid Game’ Season 3: Top Theories That Could Change Everything
11. Thomas Shelby From ‘Peaky Blinders’
Thomas Shelby is not just a gangster, he’s also a war veteran, businessman, and master manipulator with ice in his veins. Tommy wouldn’t flinch in a shootout, let alone during a game of Honeycomb. He’s strategic to the bone and always three moves ahead.
Tommy would probably try to take over the operation, flip the Front Man to his side, and still win the cash. The only thing that could trip him up? That relentless guilt and those post-war ghosts he keeps buried under his sharp suits.
10. Amy Elliott Dunne From ‘Gone Girl’
Amy Dunne is a genius-level schemer who faked her own disappearance and framed her husband for murder. In the world of ‘Squid Game‘, where every player’s move could be their last, Amy would glide through the chaos like a master chess player.
She’d weaponize vulnerability, feign weakness, and convince other players to turn on each other. Every conversation with her would be a trap. You wouldn’t even realize you were being played until she was the last one standing.
9. Dexter Morgan From ‘Dexter’
Dexter Morgan is the quiet guy in the corner who’s already figured out how to eliminate the strongest threats. He possesses both the intelligence of a forensic specialist and the abilities of a murderer.
In a game like ‘Squid Game‘, Dexter would analyze every opponent, every rule, and every weakness. He would gain trust long enough to reap the rewards and then disappear. You wouldn’t even know he was playing the game until you’re eliminated.
8. Evelyn Salt From ‘Salt’
The former CIA agent, Evelyn Salt, went rogue and became unstoppable. She is capable of being a ghost in Squid Game, slicing people in her covert operator mode. By the time players realize she’s a threat, they’ll already be bleeding on the floor.
Salt is not just a survivor, she’s the one who could blow apart the entire dynamics of the game, and probably blackmail the Front Man.
7. Sherlock Holmes From ‘Sherlock’
From understanding game mechanics to reading the body language of players and guards alike, Sherlock Holmes would treat ‘Squid Game‘ like a grand experiment in deduction. He would remain a few steps ahead of everyone else and most likely figure out the game’s organizers’ secret before the show ends.
His main threat? Other players are more concerned with survival than with reasoning. Then again, if you can’t avoid bullets in ‘Squid Game‘, intelligence won’t get you very far.
6. Harley Quinn From ‘The Suicide Squad’
Harley Quinn thrives in madness. Unpredictable and explosively violent, she’d shake up the game from the inside. Her unpredictability would make her dangerous, and no one would know whether she was friend or foe.
That’s her edge, people would underestimate her. In Squid Game’s twisted world, Harley is oddly at home.
In case you missed it: How ‘Alice In Borderland’ Outshines ‘Squid Game’ As The Ultimate Survival Drama
5. Walter White From ‘Breaking Bad’
This is a pretty obvious choice. Walter White is smart and ruthless enough to win ‘Squid Game‘. He is the embodiment of what desperation and intellect can create. His journey from high school teacher to meth empire kingpin is basically Squid Game’s ethos in action – methodical, and unshakably determined. Walter would use every second of the game to observe, calculate, and dominate.
He’d weaponize his chemistry knowledge (assuming he could smuggle in a few supplies), manipulate the strongest players into trusting him, and dispose of threats without remorse. He’s definitely the sort of character who would pull off a move like Sang-woo’s brutal betrayal of Ali in Season 1. But like always, his ego could be his downfall. If he wins, he’ll make sure everyone knows it.
4. Raymond Reddington From ‘The Blacklist’
Raymond “Red” Reddington is the kind of guy who could blackmail the Front Man, befriend the guards, and still win the Tug of War round.
As a career criminal with deep intelligence, strategic cunning, and an unsettling calm under pressure, Red would make ‘Squid Game‘ look like an inconvenience.
3. Arya Stark From ‘Game Of Thrones’
Arya Stark learned to kill without empathy, survived the harsh politics of Westeros, and literally wears someone else’s face. After all, she is the faceless assassin.
In ‘Squid Game‘, Arya would be the unseen danger that no one sees coming. She’s more inclined to play alone and is undoubtedly intelligent.
Related: 10 Best ‘Game Of Thrones’ Characters, Ranked
2. Katniss Everdeen From ‘The Hunger Games’
Katniss Everdeen has already won a brutal death match designed for public entertainment twice. She’s skilled in survival, archery, and maintaining her humanity in an inhumane system. She wouldn’t just survive ‘Squid Game‘, she’d dismantle it from within.
Katniss would win players’ trust, expose the cruelty of the system, and inspire rebellion among the participants just like Gi-Hun did. And yes, she’d ace every physical game thrown at her.
1. John Wick
John Wick could easily be Squid Game’s boogeyman. He has lost so much and turned his tragedies into the most lethal weapon. The man is a master of close-quarters combat and can kill with his bare hands. Think what he can do with a Dalgona needle. In Tug of War, he leads the team. In Marbles, he doesn’t flinch. In the dorm, just pray no one crosses him, otherwise they’ll go to eternal sleep.
Wick is a killing machine with surgical precision. Only one thing can shake him and that is his grief. But without that vulnerability, he is indestructible.
