Season 2 of Netflix's Korean survival drama is gearing up for its Dec. 26 premiere, but the Emmy-winning series is already set to end with season 3 in 2025. Creator/writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk tells Entertainment Weekly that he never intended to return with more episodes after the first season (during which he lost many teeth due to the stress), but that all changed due to the critical and fan response.

"Honestly, when I was first working on the first season, I didn't have any plans or thoughts about there ever being further seasons," Hwang says. "In Korea it's not very common for series to have multiple seasons, and also because season 1 was so incredibly demanding, so I don't think I had the confidence to once again work on further [seasons] where I would be the writer, director, and creator all throughout."

The showrunner explains that he did think about where the show could continue, but he never saw himself actually developing it. "I do remember when I was finishing up my scripts for the first season, towards the end, I did have this vague idea," he says. "And I got to thinking about creating seasons 2 and 3, firstly because of the huge success of season 1 as well as there being just so much anticipation and expectation for the story to further develop by the fans. So I revisited that little bit of a possibility that I had left towards the end of season 1 after it was created, and we wanted to do a further story."

As he saw how much fans all over the world loved Squid Game, Hwang was inspired to once again step into the world of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. Player 456, after he won $45.6 billion in the competition featuring deadly children's games. "I knew that there was so much expectation and curiosity as to what would Gi-hun do next by the fans, so I didn't want to end it here," Hwang says. "I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after where we leave him at the end of season 1 and what he does, what kind of actions he takes in order to put a stop to these games. As creator, writer, and director, it was almost my mission or my role to further tell that story. And I wanted to repay all of the love that we had received in one way or another."

The showrunner didn't want to leave fans hanging, and that's why he chose to end the series with the upcoming two seasons. "The desire to put a closure to the story that I began to tell arose after we worked on season 1," Hwang says. "In terms of why did I decide to end the story with season 3, I think that the story I wanted to tell came to a full closure at the end of season 3. The story that I both wanted to tell and that I am capable of telling through Gi-hun, it has been told with season 3."

The commercial and critical success of Squid Game was undeniable. And increase in track suit sales notwithstanding, the series made history at the Emmys as the first non-English show to be nominated (with 14 total nods) and win (taking home six trophies including best lead actor in a drama and best directing in a drama). Netflix even made a (non-fatal) reality show spinoff, Squid Game: The Challenge, that debuted different games than what Hwang created in the scripted series.

"Honestly speaking, I didn't get a chance to watch all of the episodes, but I did pay a visit to one of the sets," Hwang says of the reality show. "I know that the games that we used in season 1, they're not really fit to be played in a reality show, so when I saw the games that were played, I thought they were quite well thought-out in terms of their creativity and their practicality. And I thought a lot of effort went into coming up with games that could be played in a realistic way in the reality show. Both the set design and the way [the games] were executed took a lot of effort, and I thought it was quite interesting."

Squid Game season 2 premieres Dec. 26 on Netflix.