What could the Joker card mean in Alice in Borderland season 3? All the theories

The first look at season 3 prominently shows a Joker card - but what could it mean?

Read on for all the clues!

What could the Joker card mean in Alice in Borderland season 3?

A signal that the mystery of Borderland will finally be solved

The Joker was first teased way back when season 3 was first announced. It's the final card in the deck and a recent addition, having been added to the French-suited deck during the American Civil War. It's known as a wild card, unlike the face and number cards.

The manga posits Borderland as purgatory, a literal space in between. The people who die there, like Arisu's friend Chōta and Karube, who died early in season 1, don't make it back to the real world.

This card could also intrinsically be tied to the reality of Borderland as the mystery of this oddly deserted, deteriorating place has never quite been solved.

A supernatural sign

In season 1, we met Dealers, humans who agreed to work for whatever powers control this world, and assist with the set-up of the games.

We got to see a brief cold open from two girls, Momoko and Asahi, who went deep underground below the Metro to a massive area full of screens and people apparently controlling the games, only for Alice and co to find the space empty and abandoned later.

Similarly, the sky lasers which murder those who overstay their visa or refuse to partake in games has never been explained, and they certainly seem to demonstrate either cool futuristic science-y weapons or some kind of divine power.

Mira also spun quite a few stories for Arisu and Usagi during their final game, which was more about her messing with their heads than it was croquet.

She was actively trying to psych Arisu out with tales of mental institutions, aliens and a future VR game played 500 in the future, but what if some aspects of her stories had truth to them? She leaned heavily into a realistic explanation but what if the answer is closer to the supernatural, in keeping with the original manga.

Maybe the Joker is a god or a devil, but one way or the other, we will find out.

The Joker is a wild card but also the final one in the deck. Arisu and his friends have played every game, won every victory, but the prominence of this card in the marketing suggests there is a final boss to be defeated.

Perhaps the Joker, snubbed as the only card not to have been featured as a game, is the one who summons them back in order to settle a score or force Arisu into a game, with his own life or, more likely, Usagi's life at stake. It would certainly explain her apology and why she is seen crying in the trailer.

A call back to Borderland

The first two seasons covered the original manga, including adapting its ending. However, when season 3 was announced last year, no one quite understood how the next season would work.

Would it spin the story in a new direction or would it adapt the storyline for the short two-volume sequel, Alice in Borderland: Retry, which featured an adult Arisu (now working as a counsellor and married to Usagi, in labour with their child) back in Borderland after getting hit by a falling sign during a storm?

We know the season will have probably have eight episodes, and the trailer features a voice-over of a man begging Arisu to come back to the 'beautiful' world of Borderland.

We know from season 2 that some people decided to stay past their visas, becoming residents of Borderland and serving as Kings, Queens and Jacks, as bosses of their own games.

Perhaps the Joker is calling them back, or else maybe someone else Arisu knows has now become a permanent resident there.

Importantly, given the revelations of season 2, we get to see a portal-like opening contrasting literal night and day, suggesting it is possible to step from Tokyo to Borderland and back again via means other than physical trauma and near death.

Arisu looks a little different as well, which suggests some time has passed, so perhaps we will get aspects of Retry, which features an older, married Arisu.

Usagi is also briefly seen crying and apologising, but it's hard to say why she's upset. But if the third season is set several years after the end of season 2, then the pair may of reignited their feelings and could easily be married by this point.

Alice in Borderland, unlike many other adaptations of manga series which have taken the main story and spun it off for a new televisual medium, has always stayed close to the original source material, so here's hoping Retry will appear in some way in season 3.

It would certainly work well with this idea of a final game and a way to return back to Borderland.

Alice in Borderland season 3 will air on Netflix in September 2025.

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