Whenever Netflix decides to pull the plug on a popular original series deeply rooted in the fantastical, the reaction tends to be one of fury, rage, discontent, and dismay. Putting the shoe on the other foot for a change, though, the potential return of Alice in Borderland hasn’t been greeted with unanimous enthusiasm.
It’s been almost 10 months since the second run of the manga adaptation dropped in December of last year, where it quickly emerged as one of the streaming service’s biggest hits, so it would be reasonable to assume that a viral marketing campaign that began on the Tokyo subway would lead to much excitement over what’s widely assumed to be a season 3 renewal, especially when the company’s official social media accounts have gotten in on the action.
And yet, the response has been rather muted, with the main question from fans familiar with the source material questioning how and/or why Netflix is planning to expand on the original Alice in Borderland, with the second run of episodes devouring the entirety of its inspiration.
It’s deliciously ironic that Netflix – a platform that’s come under fire dozens of times for axing effects-heavy fantasy shows that cultivate sizeable audiences – has been teasing the renewal of a certified smash hit, and there’s still folks out there who don’t really see the need for it to return to the small screen.
It doesn’t seem to matter what the naysayers think, because all signs are increasingly pointing to Alice in Borderland coming back, although that doesn’t mean subscribers can’t speculate about the who, what, when, where, and why.