Tonight, in “Hey, we actually watch this one, and are genuinely excited” news: Netflix has apparently granted a third season to Alice In Borderland, that other TV show about people trapped in bizarre, extremely lethal murder games.
News of the renewal isn’t entirely shocking, given that Alice In Borderland, produced in Japan by Robot Communications, Inc., and based on the graphic novel by Haro Aso, has been a pretty big hit for the streamer. (Per THR, the series was “Netflix Japan’s most-watched title ever,” beating out the company’s anime line-up, among other shows.) It’s a little shocking, though, in so far as the show’s second season, released on Netflix back in December 2022, seemed to wrap up most of its storylines, seeming to conclude the fates of Kento Yamazaki’s Arisu and Tao Tsuchiya’s Usagi fairly definitively. (It did end with a possible tease for a continuation, courtesy of the appearance of a pesky “joker” card, playing into the series’ playing card motif; the original manga series has gotten multiple sequels over the years, so it’s not like there’s not source material to draw from.)
Alice In Borderland centers on Arisu, a game-obsessed slacker who finds himself transported to a mysterious alternate universe where most of Tokyo is deserted, and the few remaining people are forced to play deadly games to earn additional days of staying alive. The original season did well enough that Netflix waited only two weeks before asking for a second; it delayed significantly longer this time, but word apparently came down at the APOS entertainment and media industry conference in Bali, Indonesia this week, confirming that the third season was in the works. There’s no indications yet as to when the series might actually be back on the streamer for its third go-around, though.