Alice in Borderland season 2 – Picture: Netflix
The latest season of the hit Netflix Japanese series Alice in Borderland just returned for its second season and directly sets up a season 3 officially announced after some clever teasing by Netflix in late 2023. At Netflix’s International Showcase in November 2024, the streamer confirmed season 3 will be debuting on Netflix in 2025.
Alice in Borderland is a Netflix Original live-action adaptation of the manga of the same name by author Hara Aso. The series is directed by Shinsuke Sato and written by Yasuko Kuramitsu. It has fast become one of the most successful live-action adaptations of a popular manga series and is already one of Netflix’s most successful international originals. Season 2 of the series touched down on Netflix in December 2022.
Alice in Borderland Season 3 Netflix Renewal Status
Official Renewal Status: Renewed in September 2023
After those aforementioned viral posters were spotted around Japan, Netflix officially confirmed the series has been renewed on September 28th, 2023. We also know Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya are returning to star, and director Shinsuke Sato is also helming the third season.
There’s not much source material to adapt for season 3, meaning there could be some significant deviations from the manga, and a new season would result in plenty of original material from the writers. The Joker card shown at the end of the series heavily alluded to the character of the Joker, who is in the manga series but has not yet been revealed in the television adaptation. The announcement of season 3 indeed came with a short teaser focusing on a joker card.
The stats for season 2 were pretty strong when compared against season 2. In total, season 2 spent five weeks in the top 10s, picking up 216.23 million hours, which equates to 26 million views. You can delve deeper into the Alice in Borderland viewing hours here, but here’s a breakdown of those five weeks:
| Week in Top 10 | Week Period | Hours Viewed | Views / CVE | Weekly Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | December 18th, 2022 to December 25th, 2022 | 61,190,000 (New) | 7,400,000 | 1 |
| 2 | December 25th, 2022 to January 1st, 2023 | 74,300,000 (+21%) | 8,900,000 | 1 |
| 3 | January 1st, 2023 to January 8th, 2023 | 41,840,000 (-44%) | 5,000,000 | 3 |
| 4 | January 8th, 2023 to January 15th, 2023 | 23,220,000 (-45%) | 2,800,000 | 4 |
| 5 | January 15th, 2023 to January 22nd, 2023 | 15,680,000 (-32%) | 1,900,000 | 6 |
Better yet, the first season has also seen a big resurgence in viewership since the arrival of season 2. Between December 18th and January 1st, season 1 picked up an additional 48.88 million new hours watched.
Alice in Borderland Season 2 Ending Explained
As the final game began, the stakes were never higher for Arisu and the others. Arisu was the only one in shape to take on the final game, but he was able to drag Usagi inside to help him.
The final game against the Queen of Hearts, Mira, was croquet. However, during the game, she spends most of her time trying to manipulate the pair, nearly convincing Arisu that the entire world is his illusion. Thanks to Usagi, Arisu is stopped from conceding, and in the process, the pair finally reveal their feelings for each other.
Mira wins the game of croquet, but ultimately, Arisu wins after learning that all he has to do is not forfeit the game. With all of the face cards defeated, Mira is annihilated by the sky laser, and all the players are faced with the choice of returning to the real world or accepting life in Borderland. All players, except for Banda and Yaba, decide to leave.
All of the players awake to discover they are in the hospital, where Arisu learns that a meteor destroyed a large chunk of Tokyo, and everyone who hadn’t died was sent to the Borderlands. Sadly, none of the players remember their shared experience in Borderlands, but this doesn’t stop Arisu and Usagi from finding each other in the hospital.
However, not everything may be as it seems as the camera pans across the hospital grounds, showing a table full of playing cards that are blown away except for the Joker card.
Are you looking forward to the third season of Alice in Borderland? Let us know in the comments below!
Netflix Synopsis: "An aimless gamer and his two friends find themselves in a parallel Tokyo, where they're forced to compete in a series of sadistic games to survive."
