Let the games begin — well, almost. Season 3 of Alice in Borderland has officially been announced and luckily for us fans, we won’t have to wait too long to see it! On Feb. 11, Netflix Japan released a preview of shows set to premiere in 2025, and among the highlights was the very first teaser for Alice in Borderland Season 3, which is set to premiere in September 2025. The brief clip featured Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) as the final game — the Joker Card — commences. As of Feb. 19, this remains the only teaser released for Season 3, leaving many fans (myself included) theorizing what we can expect from the highly anticipated final season of Alice in Borderland.
If you need a refresher on what happened at the end of Season 2, Arisu and Usagi defeated the Queen of Hearts in a game of croquet hosted by citizen Mira Kano. The game, unlike most face card games, had no player or time limit, and its complexity was determined primarily by psychological stress rather than the game itself. After winning the game, each remaining Borderland player was given a choice: become a permanent resident of the world or return to the real world.
The majority of the primary players opt to leave, except for Banda and Yaba, the only winners from the Jack of Hearts game earlier in Season 2. What we as viewers learn is that on the day Arisu and the other residents were transported to Borderland, a meteorite ruptured over Tokyo. Everyone in the immediate contact zone was sent to Borderland, which served as a sort of purgatory, symbolizing the gray area between life and death. Arisu, along with all of the meteorite’s victims, had their hearts stopped for one minute, alluding to the idea that all of the events from Seasons 1 and 2 occurred within that minute.
All the returning players forgot their identities in Borderland once they re-entered the real world, including the players they faced off against. Now, with the Joker Card game returning, one big question remains: How will the games continue when most of the main characters are back in the real-world version of Tokyo?
Will We Physically See the Joker, or Will It Only Be the Card’s Game?
In Season 2, the Netflix series diverged from the original manga adaption in that we never saw the Joker at the end of the Queen of Hearts Game. In the manga, the Joker isn’t a game, but rather an entity that rules over everything in Borderland. The Joker is the one that transports all players who choose to depart back to the land of the living, rather than everyone waking on their own accord in the series. Since the Netflix original deviated from the manga’s ending with the introduction of the Joker Games, many are curious if the mysterious entity of the Joker will arrive. In the Season 3 teaser, Arisu notices a black shadowy entity staring back at him, which could be the Joker.
Some viewers have pointed out that a standard deck of cards contains two Joker cards. If the Joker isn’t just a game but an actual person, it could mean that two people are running the games — or that the players may have to survive two separate challenges to win. Many speculate that Banda and Yaba could be the Jokers, as they were the only two among the main surviving characters who chose to stay in Borderland. However, it’s still unclear if this is the direction Season 3 will take.
For now, it appears that the Joker is simply the final game — one that Arisu, Usagi, and likely all the surviving players must face one last time to sever their ties to Borderland’s purgatory.
Will the Players Return to Borderland to Play the Joker’s Game?
With the Joker Card games now serving as the final test for the participants, the big question is whether Arisu, Usagi, and the rest of the cast who chose to leave Borderland will be forced to return to win the games. After returning to the living world, Arisu, Usagi, and the others have no recollection of their experience in Borderland. Will they remember when the Joker card games start, or will they be doomed to repeat their time there and re-meet all of their previous allies in Borderland?
Will the Joker’s Game Be Played in the Real World?
Another theory that viewers have is that if the players do not return to the games, the Joker games will make their way into the real world. The teaser shows a slightly older Arisu navigating the real world. Personally, I’m wondering if it’s all an illusion, similar to what he and Usagi experienced during the Queen of Heart game, but it would be even more interesting if the Joker and some borderland citizens appeared in the real world to wreak havoc on everyone, regardless of whether they were in Borderland or not.