Two of Netflix’s biggest survival thrillers just dropped new seasons — and suddenly, they look almost identical. A pregnant player. A baby counted in a death game. A mysterious global expansion.
Fans are asking the same question across Reddit and YouTube:
“Did Alice in Borderland season 3 just copied Squid Game?”
What if these eerie similarities aren’t coincidences — but clues? Let’s break down the hidden connections, shocking parallels, and the theory that Netflix’s two biggest shows might secretly share the same DNA.
🎯 Key Details So Far;
- The Return of the Protagonist
- Global Expansion Hints
- Pregnant Woman as a Player
- Baby Counted as “Players”
- Recruitment Symbols
1. Pregnant Woman as a Player: The Emotional Core
One of the biggest surprises in both new seasons is the sudden introduction of pregnant contestants in their deadly games.
In Squid Game 3, Jun-hee emerges as one of the most emotionally charged characters. Expecting a child, she’s forced into life-or-death challenges that test her humanity every second. Her pregnancy becomes the show’s moral compass — a constant reminder that survival now means protecting two lives.
Meanwhile, Alice in Borderland 3 brings back Usagi, who we discover is pregnant. Her unborn baby isn’t just a plot twist — it’s a symbol of hope amid despair. The Borderland has always been about death and rebirth, and Usagi’s pregnancy captures that theme perfectly.
Both women carry more than children — they carry the emotional weight of a dying world. It’s a striking creative parallel that immediately got fans talking.
2. Babies Counted as “Players”: Innocence vs. System
Just when viewers thought things couldn’t get darker, both shows doubled down.
In Squid Game 3, Jun-hee’s newborn is actually counted among the players, turning a symbol of innocence into part of the system’s cruelty. It’s a moment that horrifies and fascinates — the Game now recognizes even a baby as a participant.
Alice in Borderland 3 mirrors this unsettling idea. The Joker Game — the final deadly stage — acknowledges Usagi’s unborn child as an official player.
The message is clear: in these universes, morality doesn’t matter. Whether you’re innocent or guilty, born or unborn, you’re trapped in a machine that values spectacle over life.
This narrative parallel sparked countless Reddit threads and YouTube breakdowns — because coincidences this specific rarely happen twice.
3. The Return of the Protagonist: Gi-hun & Arisu’s Comeback
Both main characters — Gi-hun and Arisu — escaped their respective games. Yet both decide to go back.
In Squid Game, Gi-hun’s infamous airport turnaround is one of the most talked-about endings in modern television. Freedom isn’t enough; he wants justice.
In Alice in Borderland, Arisu awakens in the real world, believing it’s over. But Season 3 shows him slowly being pulled back — not by force, but by choice.
Both men embody a deeper theme: trauma doesn’t end when the game stops. The need to confront evil — even at the cost of peace — becomes irresistible. This parallel marks a shared shift from physical survival to psychological survival. It’s no longer “Can I escape?” but “Can I live with what I’ve seen?”
4. Recruitment Symbols: The Joker Card and the Ddakji
In Squid Game, the ddakji — a simple folded paper tile — acts as the invitation to chaos. In Alice in Borderland 3, that symbol takes the form of the Joker card, which plays nearly the same narrative role.
Each item carries mystery, color, and meaning. The ddakji’s red-blue duality reflects choice and manipulation. The Joker card represents unpredictability — a wild element that can change the entire system. Both are silent recruiters, inviting new victims while teasing deeper secrets.These tokens prove that in survival-game worlds, symbols speak louder than words — and both Netflix series mastered that art.
5. Expansion Hints: Both Series Going Global
Both shows conclude their latest seasons by suggesting that the games are no longer confined to one place.
In Squid Game 3, the final scenes hint that recruitment has spread beyond Korea. The implication is chilling: the Game is going international.
Then Alice in Borderland 3 drops an even bigger bombshell — a mysterious scene set in Los Angeles, featuring a woman named Alice sitting in a café. This single scene changes everything. It confirms that the Borderland’s influence has reached the West, echoing Squid Game’s earlier global tease.
Whether by coincidence or Netflix strategy, both series seem to be moving toward the same idea: the survival game is now a worldwide phenomenon.
6. Visuals, Symbolism & Style: A Shared Aesthetic DNA
On a production level, Squid Game and Alice in Borderland look increasingly alike. Both use masked guards, geometric arenas, and vivid color palettes that turn violence into visual art.
- Squid Game uses sharp reds, greens, and minimalist shapes to represent order and hierarchy.
- Alice in Borderland uses neon hues, chaos, and card-based imagery to symbolize randomness and fate.
Despite their differences, both employ ritualistic cinematography — wide symmetrical shots, slow pans, and surreal staging. It’s no surprise fans feel they belong to the same creative universe. Each show transforms its set design into storytelling: control versus chaos, law versus luck.
7. Shared Themes: Humanity, Morality, and Legacy
Strip away the games, and both stories are about humanity on trial.
In the first seasons, the focus was on greed and survival — ordinary people pushed to extremes. By Season 3, both series evolve into meditations on legacy and morality. The pregnancies of Jun-hee and Usagi symbolize more than motherhood. They question what kind of world these characters are bringing new life into.
Are they preserving humanity… or passing on its corruption? This question echoes across both universes. It transforms the survival genre into philosophical storytelling, where living becomes less important than deserving to live.
8. Did Alice in Borderland Really Copy Squid Game?
So, let’s confront the viral question head-on.
Did Alice in Borderland 3 actually copy Squid Game 3 ?
Many fans think so. The parallels — the pregnancy arc, the infant twist, the global expansion tease — all appeared in Squid Game first. To them, it feels too deliberate to be coincidence. But we would add that;
The main story of Alice in Borderland concluded at the end of season 2. Season 3 is a new, original story that deviates from the source material. The Season 3 tells a new story, with the director stating the show is entering an “unknown” narrative path beyond the manga’s scope.
The likely truth lies in between. With both series under Netflix’s global spotlight, it’s plausible that creative influence flows both ways — shared ideas, parallel development, and a bit of corporate direction to maintain thematic synergy. Instead of copying, it might be convergence: two cultural giants exploring the same modern anxieties — power, dehumanization, and the price of survival.
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9. Why Netflix Might Be Connecting Both Worlds
Here’s a fascinating theory: Netflix wants a shared survival-verse.
Think about it — both shows:
- Feature deadly games run by mysterious organizations.
- End with international expansion teases.
- Center around characters who can’t escape their trauma.
If Netflix truly plans to merge or cross-reference these stories, it would create a global franchise rivaling any cinematic universe.Even subtle marketing hints at it — similar promotional imagery, overlapping release windows, and mirrored moral questions. Imagine a crossover where Arisu and Gi-hun meet in a neutral “Game of Games.” Fans would lose their minds — and Netflix knows it. While there’s no official confirmation, the groundwork is undeniably there.
10. Could There Be a Shared Universe?
The idea sounds wild… but not impossible.
In Alice in Borderland, the term “Borderland” itself implies a space between worlds — a liminal zone that could, in theory, connect to other dimensions or versions of reality.
What if the Squid Game organization is just another arm of this larger experiment — one run in Korea, another in Japan? Both test morality, manipulate the poor, and operate in secret with elite sponsors. Even stylistically, the masked hierarchy and ritualistic tone align too well to dismiss. It’s speculative, but thrilling to imagine: a Netflix Survival Multiverse where every country has its own version of the game — and Season 4s across the board could finally reveal the bigger picture.
Final Thoughts
Whether you see it as influence, coincidence, or collaboration, one thing is certain: both shows have redefined the modern survival-thriller.
They aren’t just about people dying in games — they’re about societies dying from within.
And as both universes tease global expansion, we might just be witnessing the birth of something massive — an interconnected narrative where human desperation becomes a worldwide currency.
So what do you think?
Did Alice in Borderland go too far in mirroring Squid Game’s formula, or are they both reflections of the same nightmare — different cultures, same human struggle?Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned to Crunchyflix — next, we’ll decode the hidden meaning behind the Joker Card and what it could mean for the Borderland universe.
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