There are some television cancellations that truly hurt. Finding out your favorite show won’t continue can be such a bummer, but it’s even more disheartening when shows are simply abandoned. This is the case for one of Apple TV’s most impressive offerings. Pachinko, which aired from 2022 to 2024, is based on the brilliant 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee. The first two seasons of the series are faithful adaptations of Lee’s work, but for some strange reason, Apple TV has simply failed to make a third season. Several years later, fans of both the book and the series are pleading with the streamer to at least make one more season to wrap up the story.
Season 2 of ‘Pachinko’ Finishes in an Open-Ended Way
Creator Soo Hugh always planned to adapt Pachinko in three (possibly even four) seasons, and this is why Season 2 concludes with so many unfinished storylines. Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) seems to say goodbye to her dear friend, Kato (Jun Kunimura), but we don’t know if their relationship is completely over or what Sunja will do without this connection in her life. Continuing with the 1989 timeline, Mozasu (Soji Arai) tries to warn Solomon (Jin Ha) about his business dealings with the shady Mamoru (Louis Ozawa). Solomon also learns that because of his choices, his business enemy, Abe-san (Yoshio Maki), has killed himself.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
And in the most important storyline, back in 1951, Sunja’s son, Noa (Kang Tae-Joo), disappears to Nagano after discovering a family secret. He has trouble coping with the fact that the enigmatic Hansu (Lee Min-ho) is actually his biological father. Living in this new place, Noa decides to completely cut himself off from his family, assumes a brand-new identity, and is offered a job at a pachinko parlor, cementing the gambling game in the family’s lore. But what will happen to these characters after the conclusion of the Season 2 finale?
‘Pachinko’ Has So Much More Story To Tell Stemming From the Book
The final third of the Pachinko novel is rich with some of the most in-depth character arcs and compelling plot points of the whole book. Without giving away too many spoilers, we learn more about Noa’s secluded life in Nagano, plus the tragic path he walks down as an adult. Through the 1960s and 1970s, we follow Mozasu’s life as he transforms into a family man and becomes wealthy as the owner of multiple pachinko parlors. Mozasu’s step-daughter plays a major part in the book and forms an intriguing relationship with a young Solomon. We see more of Solomon’s path before 1981, which helps explain how Solomon actually became a broken man by the time we meet up with him at the beginning of Season 1. The novel ends with closure for each of the characters, but most crucially, we see Sunja nearing the end of her life. For this quietly powerful and resilient woman, the conclusion of her character’s story ties together the entire book in a masterful way.
Resistance isn’t always a grand act of protest; sometimes, it’s the quiet perseverance of a family.
A third season of Pachinko could have easily followed through with each of these narratives. The timelines could have all connected, so that the viewer gets a complete and fulfilling picture of the road each character has walked down. At this point, it’s completely heartbreaking that the epic story has just been dropped before it could all come to its natural conclusion. By potentially ending for good after Season 2, Apple TV has done a disservice to Lee’s novel and to the team behind the television show, who worked so hard to tell a meaningful and moving story. If Hugh had known that the streamer wouldn’t be continuing on with the series, she could have at least reworked Season 2 to wrap up the narratives in a more satisfying way.
As it stands, some fans of Pachinko might still want to hold out hope that Season 3 of the series might be made someday. But realists are accepting the fact that this is just one more of those cancellations that hurts the most. The last update came from Hugh back in 2025, when she was on the jury at the Canneseries. When asked if Pachinko would return for new episodes, she merely noted that, “This is beyond my pay grade and I don’t know which shows will last the test of time, but I have to believe Pachinko will last the test of time.” With its genius writing, impeccable performances, and awe-inspiring cinematography, she just might be right — even if the storytelling is incomplete.
Seasons 1–2 of Pachinko are available to stream on Apple TV in the U.S.
