Netflix Denies American A-List Cameo In ‘Squid Game’ Season 3

For a brief moment, there was a report from Korea’s OSEN claiming inside knowledge that a specific A-list star would be heading to Squid Game season 3 for a cameo role.

That star was none other than Leonardo DiCaprio, about as A-list as you can get. However, Netflix came out to shut this down almost as soon as it started to spread, calling it “entirely unfounded.”

This idea was not quite as random as it seemed, as back in 2021, lead actor Lee Jung-jae met DiCaprio at a gala, and then when asked during a different event later, said that DiCaprio was the actor he’d want to see in season 2 of the show. DiCaprio is a big name, but Squid Game is the biggest show on planet earth, so it’s not that crazy. DiCaprio also has an existing relationship with Netflix, having starred in its comedy Don’t Look Up in 2021.

Netflix could be smokescreening here, but it seems like a pretty definitive no. When this was first flying around, the idea was that DiCaprio would appear as one of the infamous VIPs in the series, the Western, mask-wearing patrons that wager on the Squid Games, a group that Lee Jung-jae’s 456 is attempt to reach and kill in season 3. It would have actually been pretty funny if DiCaprio was one, but hidden behind a mask so it wasn’t a full cameo, and perhaps a bit less distracting if say…Leonardo DiCaprio’s face was suddenly on the screen.

Back in season 1, the appearance of the VIPs was controversial due to just how awful their appearance was compared to the rest of the show with weird dialogue and line readings. It was so bad that later some of the actors had to come out and explain what exactly happened here. I wrote this up back in 2021, when VIP actor John D. Michaels explained:

“It’s different for every show, but non-Korean performers often act with dialogue that is translated by a non-native – sometimes even by Google Translate – so it can sound unnatural,” he said.

The other problem was the set-up for most of the VIP’s lines:

“We were all wearing very heavy plaster masks, and sitting on couches that were at least 20-30 feet away from the closest VIP. We all had to yell our lines vaguely into the air, which added to the weird tonality of the delivery.”

Given how much pushback there was about the season 1 VIPs, it seems like Squid Game is much more likely to handle them better this time around, as we know they’re obviously going to make another appearance by the time things are said and done, with season 3 being the conclusion of the story. And I would expect a lot of them to end up dead, DiCaprio not withstanding.

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