Warning: Heavy spoilers for Alice in Borderland seasons 1-3 ahead, including the ending of season 3. In December 2020, Netflix debuted Alice in Borderland, the Japanese death-game thriller where everyday people are transported to a parallel world filled with fatal challenges. As Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), a game-obsessed slacker, and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), a mountain climber mourning her father, fight their way through the games, they question not only whether they'll be able to return to the real world, but whether resuming their lives of pain and heartbreak are worth it. Once they escaped Borderland, viewers learned that the entire first two seasons took place in the few minutes following a meteorite hitting Shibuya; whoever survived in the dream world woke up alive.
While the first two seasons were adapted from Haro Asō's legendary manga series of the same name, Alice in Borderland season 3 is an original story. The six episodes, released September 26, follow Arisu and Usagi three years after the meteorite. Despite waking up with no memories of Borderland, the pair's lives now look very different; they're both gainfully employed and happily married, with Arisu working at a counseling clinic. However, Usagi still has nightmares about her father, a famous mountain climber who disappeared after he was accused of faking a no-oxygen solo hike. In her struggle to move on from his presumed death, Usagi is lured back to the Borderland, with Arisu quickly following to ensure they both make it through alive. (As in the Lewis Carroll novel, Alice/Arisu follows the rabbit—"usagi" in Japanese—down the hole.)
