Netflix's Best Sci-Fi Thriller Just Premiered Its Third Season (And It's Must-Watch For Squid Game Fans)

The heartbreaking and heart-pounding South Korean survival thriller series "Squid Game" is over, with the third and final season airing on Netflix in June of 2025. The complex story of how capitalism drives us to our worst instincts starred Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hoon, a gambling addict who signs up for a kill-or-be-killed game to try and win enough money to erase his debts and start over, and it became an absolute global sensation. After all, who can't relate to feeling trapped in a terrifying capitalistic game where there are no winners these days? 

Thankfully, there's another fantastic series available for fans looking for their dystopian thriller fix: the Japanese sci-fi drama series "Alice in Borderland," based on the manga series of the same name by Haro Aso. Not only is "Alice in Borderland" a great companion piece to "Squid Game" because both center around nightmarish "games" where the players regularly die, but it also just premiered its third season on Netflix, so there are brand new episodes to devour once you've caught up on the first two seasons. "Alice in Borderland" is sure to satisfy some of those "Squid Game" cravings, with plenty of twists and turns and even some exploding heads. 

"Alice in Borderland" follows Ryōhei Arisu, an aimless young man obsessed with video games who ends up thrust into an alternate Tokyo alongside two of his best friends, where they are forced to compete in deadly games. Arisu ends up befriending and having a romantic relationship with mountain climber and fellow game player Yuzuha Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), and the two do their best to survive playing deadly games in increasingly hostile environments. While "Squid Game" had a bit of technology in its storytelling, "Alice in Borderland" is pure science fiction, with game players being transported to different worlds in order to compete. Season 1 saw Arisu and Usagi discovering a seemingly utopian society run by Hatter (Nobuaki Kaneko), only to discover things were a little more complicated; they ended up surviving only to move on to another level of the game. 

The second season sees Arisu and Usagi face off against new players, each assigned with a playing card (much like the Queen of Hearts in the original "Alice in Wonderland" story that the series draws inspiration from). As the duo learn to survive and win at the games and try not to lose their humanity, they also begin to fall for one another, giving "Alice in Borderland" a romantic edge over "Squid Game." 

Despite managing to survive and win the games at the send of the second season, Arisu and Usagi aren't done with the games just yet. They managed to get back to the real world and start a life together, even getting married, but now they're being drawn back in once more. In the third season, premiering on Netflix today, Usagi mysteriously disappears and Arisu is given one final card, The Joker, and told that he and Usagi will have even more craziness to endure. The third season looks like it's going even bigger and wilder than the first two based on the trailer, which can only mean more of the twists fans have grown to love and expect. 

For fans of "Squid Game" who have already seen "Alice in Borderland," there are thankfully still some other great dystopian movies and shows that can help keep those cravings at bay. Just don't watch "Squid Game: The Challenge" unless you want to feel like you're already deep in a dystopia yourself, okay?