The first trailer for Alice in Borderland season 3 answers our biggest question about the future of the Netflix show. When Alice in Borderland season 2 came out, it seemed like it was going to be the end of the series, given how it had caught up with the source material. However, a few months later, season 3 was announced.
Haro Aso’s Alice in Borderland manga ends just like season 2 did, with Arisu and the others returning to the real world without their memories, as we find out that they were all at a hospital fighting for their lives the whole time. Still, the Joker card twist all but confirmed that we were going to get a third season of Alice in Borderland.
The problem is that the Joker card is not an actual storyline in the source material. The Joker was simply the ferryman in the manga that showed up when Arisu declined to stay in the Borderland and was about to return to the real world. Fortunately, we now have a better idea of why Arisu is returning to the Borderland.
Alice In Borderland Season 3’s Trailer Reveals Why Arisu Returns To The Borderland
Arisu Is Trying To Save Usagi
Alice in Borderland season 3’s trailer reveals that Arisu and Usagi are married, and that the story will take place a couple of years after the events of season 2. The first trailer also seems to confirm that season 2’s ending was not a fakeout, meaning that Arisu and the other did return to the real world.
Netflix has also shared the first synopsis for Alice in Borderland season 3, teasing what happens to Usagi and what Arisu will have to do to save her. Read the full synopsis below:
After Usagi is abducted and left unconscious by a mysterious scholar obsessed with the afterlife, Arisu returns to the perilous “Borderland” to save her. Teaming up with new players, they must face the yet-unseen “Joker” stage in a desperate bid to find a way back to their original world.
Considering that none of the characters remembered what they experienced in the Borderland, plus the fact that Arisu beat all the games and declined to become a citizen, there seemed to be no reason for him to return to the Borderland. However, we now know that Arisu will have to come back to find and save Usagi, who is back in the Borderland.
We Still Don’t Know How Usagi And Arisu Will Return To The Borderland In Season 3
Season 3 Will Introduce A Mysterious New Character Called Ryuji
While we know that Arisu will have to go back to save his wife, we don’t know why Usagi is back in the Borderland in the first place. The synopsis mentions Ryuji, a new character, who is studying the afterlife and is the one who guided Usagi back into the Borderland. Whether they will get their memories back is also unclear.
Arisu, Usagi, Ann, Yaba, and Banda are the only confirmed returning characters in season 3.
Both Arisu and Usagi seem to be having memory flashes from the events of the first two seasons, but it remains to be seen if all of their memories will come back at once or if they will rediscover the mysteries of the Borderland as season 3 goes on. Interestingly, the trailer reveals the return of Banda, who’s now a Borderland citizen.
In the manga, the only way we know a person can enter the Borderland is when they are in a life-or-death situation. Not only is this what happened to Arisu and all the other Alice in Borderland characters at the start of the story, but it is also what happened to Arisu a second time in Alice in Borderland: Retry.
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Why Alice In Borderland Season 3 Is Happening (Despite Season 2’s Ending)
Alice in Borderland season 3 is happening, which can be surprising given how season 2 ended and how there is no source material left to be covered.
Perhaps Usagi will be sick or injured, giving the Joker – or whoever is the actual villain of season 3 – the chance to pull her back into the Borderland. I’m still curious to see how Arisu will follow his wife back into that world, but I’m glad that we can finally start putting together what Alice in Borderland season 3 will be about.
Alice In Borderland Season 3 Already Looks A Lot Different From The Source Material
The Netflix Show Is Not Directly Adapting Alice In Borderland: Retry
Although Alice in Borderland‘s main story ended in 2016, we got an epilogue in the form of 2020’s Alice in Borderland: Retry. In that story, Arisu and Usagi are married and about to become parents. However, the day Usagi is preparing to give birth, Arisu suffers an accident and finds himself back in the Borderland.
The Alice in Borderland universe also includes Alice on Border Road, a spinoff story about a different set of characters.
As soon as Arisu wakes up in that world, he regains his memories and has to go through a series of new games again. Retry is a very brief story, and I wanted to see how much of it the Netflix series was going to adapt.
Apart from the time jump and the fact that Arisu and Usagi are now married, Alice in Borderland season 3 looks a lot different from Retry. It doesn’t seem like Arisu will suffer an accident, and the addition of characters like Ryuji and the return of Banda tell me we’re going for an original story.
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Why Arisu Looks So Different In Alice In Borderland Season 3 (It’s More Important Than You Think)
Kento Yamazaki’s Arisu looks very different in Alice in Borderland season 3, and his new look on the show is more important than you might think.
On the one hand, it can be risky for a live-action adaptation to drift away from the source material too much. On the other hand, Retry doesn’t give Netflix’s Alice in Borderland a lot to pull from. The show was always going to have to come up with something original for season 3, and I cannot wait to find out more about the story.
Alice in Borderland
- Release Date
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December 10, 2020
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Shinsuke Sato
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Kento Yamazaki
Ryohei Arisu
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Tao Tsuchiya
Yuzuha Usagi
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
