Netflix’s crime thriller, Sacred Games, is based on the 2006 novel of the same title by Vikram Chandra and was adapted for television by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath. The series marks the first Netflix original to come in India (through Business Insider) and has proved to be an effective move so far, giving wide crowds access to Indian media out Bollywood movies.
The crime-filled drama follows a Mumbai police officer, Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan), who, after a call in gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), has been given the task of rescuing the whole town from some kind of disaster. The show, which has been favorably received overall — it’s an average 76% Tomatometer and 83% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes — has published two seasons so far that are out and available for binging. Considering the season two finale ended on a cliffhanger, fans are wondering about a potential third season of the series — here’s what we know up to now.
As of this moment, Netflix hasn’t published any info on whether or not Sacred Games will return for the third year. It appears it might go either way, seeing how the show has already used all of its source material with Chandra’s publication, but the next season did end with a cliffhanger that might imply that there is more to come. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who performs one of those leads, has spoken about the matter, stating that he doesn’t believe there’ll be the third year. In an interview, he also stated, “Whatever had to be started from the original publication has already been saying. There’s nothing left in Vikram Chandra’s book to be put in year 3.”
Although this declaration may be disappointing to the show’s many fans, it hasn’t been confirmed by Netflix yet — and it is the streaming platform that has the last say. Siddiqui could have been speculating himself or plans might have changed afterward, but there’s no way to know for sure before Netflix makes an announcement.
The second season premiered in August of 2019, which looks like too long of a time to have not heard any news on a third-year yet. However, the worldwide outbreak of 2020 impacted pretty much every show and movie in development, resulting in a lot of pushbacks and postponements, therefore the elongated quantity of time because the season two premiere is not necessarily indicative of anything concrete.
Any season of Sacred Games would not be complete without its two stars, Saif Ali Khan as Sartaj Singh and Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Ganesh Gaitonde. Both of these are the only two cast members to be credited as main characters for the two seasons, so we can likely expect the same for any potential third season.
Within this crime-filled and action-driven storyline, some of the characters were not as lucky to make it out alive by the ending of season 2. In reality, some of the deaths were quite shocking, like that of analysis and research officer Anjali Mathur (Radhika Apte), who had been captured by Murad Malcolm (Luke Kenny) while on a circumstance. Another notable death was that of Majid Khan (Aamir Bashir), that was killed by Shahid Khan (Ranvir Shorey) just as he and Sartaj had discovered the bomb they had been looking for. Additionally, cult leader Khanna Guruji (Pankaj Tripathi) met his destiny when Ganesh killed him.
Those who have been lucky enough to not satisfy their deaths consist of key characters such as Batya Abelman (Kalki Koechlin) and Suleiman Isa (Saurabh Sachdeva), who would also likely return for an upcoming season.
At the end of season 2, after searching for the nuclear bomb in haste before it moved away, officers Sartaj and Majid found the weapon — but Majid was captured by Shahid just as they made the discovery. While the bomb was ticking down, Sartaj shot Shahid, killing him after Shahid refused to give the pattern used as a password to unlock the bomb. With time running out, everybody pretty much accepted that the bomb would detonate — except for Sartaj, that maintained attempting to crack the password. Sartaj eventually figured out exactly what the password was — which, as explained by Fansided, was”the form of the Radcliffe Line or the international boundary between India and Pakistan during the partition of India.” In the long run, the shot cuts before being shown whether or not the bomb went away.
If renewed for a third period, the plot will probably pick up right where this cliffhanger left off and show whether the password worked. It’s likely that, if the show continued, the password was successful and the plot could proceed to focus on the aftermath of the full situation. The first two seasons covered the contents of this book it’s based on, so the show’s writers would have complete liberty of where to take the story next.