Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "The OA: Part II."

Fans of "The OA" were shocked and saddened to hear on Monday that Netflix would not be making any new seasons of the sci-fi series.

Now, amid a social-media campaign to #SaveTheOA, some fans believe the cancellation was a fakeout and is part of an augmented-reality narrative around season three of the show.

"The OA: Part II" ended with the revelation that its characters had jumped to a dimension where "The OA" was a TV show being made in a world very similar to ours.

A person with knowledge of the situation told INSIDER that "the show is not returning."

But the themes of "The OA" have always asked fans to transcend doubt and lean into faith, so the devoted fanbase isn't likely to give up hope that easily.

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After Netflix announced on Monday that it would be canceling its original sci-fi series "The OA," fans are building out theories in hopes that this distressing news is part of a marketing plan for a coming "Part III" to the story.

A person with knowledge of the situation told INSIDER that "the show is not returning," but the devoted fanbase of "The OA" will likely not be easily quelled.

Fans were shocked and saddened when the streaming service announced it would not be renewing the show for a third season. Its cocreators, Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, had designed a five-season plan for "The OA" and ended its "Part II" set of episodes with a mind-melting cliff-hanger.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the 'Part II' season finale on 'The OA'

Now some people, particularly in the Reddit community dedicated to "The OA," are beginning to think the show isn't really canceled but that Netflix's statements are part of a fourth-wall-breaking narrative built into the second season.

And it's easy to understand why.

How the cliff-hanger ending of 'Part 2' amplifies the possibility of augmented-reality marketing for 'The OA'

"The OA: Part II" premiered on Netflix in March. Netflix

For those who haven't watched "The OA" yet, let's start by going through a spoiler-filled rundown of what was happening on the show and why everything got so meta.

The essential narrative premise of the show follows a woman named OA (short for Original Angel), one of several characters who have learned how to travel between dimensions using a set of choreographed "movements." These dimensions are part of a multiverse, a theoretically unlimited number of worlds very similar to our own but where people's lives and relationships are different.

OA (played by Marling) is effectively in an eternal duel with a man named Hap (Jason Isaacs). They are linked in nearly every version of the universe, though the OA we know wishes to break this bond.

OA was captured and experimented on by Hap. Netflix

She's in love with a man named Homer, who can also travel between dimensions. But Hap wishes to control OA and study her interdimensional-travel knowledge, and this means keeping her away from Homer and in his captivity.

Throughout "Part II"/season two, OA was stuck in a new dimension with Hap — different from where season one took place. Her friends left behind in this first dimension spent the whole season trying to get to her and help her.

And so we come to the "Part II" finale.

On the last episode of "The OA," another character named Karim found his way to a portal that gave him a glimpse of yet another dimension. In this dimension, OA is not the OA we know, but a woman named Brit Marling who is playing the character of OA on a TV show. She is married to Jason Isaacs, aka Hap.

In this scene, a version of Buck has jumped into "Ian Alexander," played by the real-life actor Ian Alexander. Netflix

As Ian Alexander, an actor on "The OA," explained in an interview with INSIDER, this is a third dimension that isn't meant to literally be a fourth-wall break into the real world (our world).

"It is different because obviously Brit Marling and Jason Isaacs aren't married in real life," Alexander said. "But it is a dimension in which they are creating the show called 'The OA.'"

Read more: 'The OA' star Ian Alexander helps explain the confounding final scene of 'Part II': 'It's very meta'

When OA jumps into this "Brit Marling" body in the third dimension, she falls and hits her head. An ambulance comes, and Hap (who is immediately able to feign being just "Jason Isaacs") gets in with her, telling the medics that he's her husband.

During the final minute of the episode, we see that one of OA's friends from the first dimension, Steve, has jumped into the body of "Paddy Gibson." He gets into the ambulance with the unconscious OA/Brit and Hap/Jason.

Paddy Gibson as Steve as "Paddy Gibson" on the final scene of "Part II." Netflix

Hap had intentionally brought OA to this third dimension, knowing it would force her into a space where she no longer believed that her story and abilities were real. Instead, she would be trapped in a consciousness where she thought OA was simply a story she had made up and was playing for a TV show.

But Steve (and likely her other friends) are in the third dimension too, and it will be up to them to try to save OA from Hap once again.

If you're still confused, you can read our full explainer of the "Part II" finale here. But these are the basics you need to know to understand why fans of the show now think "The OA" wasn't actually canceled.

Given how "Part II" ended with this extremely meta referencing of "The OA" as a TV show, it's not hard to see why some people might assume Marling and Batmanglij have ambitious augmented-reality plans for the interplay between their series and the fandom.

Some fans now believe that Netflix's actions are just part of the 3rd season's storyline

Marling on "The OA: Part II." Nicola Goode/Netflix

On Monday, Netflix released a statement about its choice not to renew the series.

"We are incredibly proud of the 16 mesmerizing chapters of 'The OA,' and are grateful to Brit and Zal for sharing their audacious vision and for realizing it through their incredible artistry," Netflix's vice president of original programming, Cindy Holland, said in the statement provided to INSIDER. "We look forward to working with them again in the future, in this and perhaps many other dimensions."

The same day Netflix announced its cancellation of "The OA," fans on the show's subreddit had planned to flood social media with #RenewTheOA.

They selected August 5 because on the show one of Hap's kidnapping victims is named August. The number 5 has additional meaning because it's the number of people you need to do a special set of "movements" to jump to a new dimension.

Following the bad news from Netflix, the hashtag quickly pivoted from #RenewTheOA to #SaveTheOA. Within hours, a popular post on the subreddit, titled "Hear Me Out: This isn't the end and I'll tell you why," sparked hope-filled discussions.

"I know it will sound like denial but I truly believe that this isn't the end," the Reddit user smithif wrote. "There are so many signs that point to this being a larger game being played by Zal, Brit, and Netflix."

Later in the day, a follow-up post from another Redditor asked the fan community "What if it is our responsibility to save The OA?"

"What it boils down to, is that in the dimension to be explored in S3, Brit was injured," the Redditor, factoreight, wrote. "Surely, within that dimension, the show would likely be cancelled. The show broke the fourth wall. I believe that Brit and Zal would take this opportunity to live out elements of the show beyond the constraints of the screen."

Paddy Gibson as Steve on "The OA: Part I." Netflix

"What if it is our job now to do the movements," the fan posited in the post. "Not as a mere demonstration that we are fans of the show, but because we have a responsibility. What if it is now our responsibility to save Brit — to save the OA — not the show, but the person."

The plan is now for fans of the show to coordinate performances of the "movements," the choreography in the show that helps heal people and transports them to an alternate dimension, on October 12. The #SaveTheOA flash mob will be part of fans' social-media push for Netflix to reverse its decision. There's even a Change.org petition with 28,000 signatures and counting.

A trail of clues that add up if you're looking for hope

First and foremost, people are reading into an Instagram post from Isaacs in which he performs the movements with Emory Cohen, the actor who plays OA's great love, Homer.

In his caption for the video — uploaded days before the announced cancellation of "The OA" — Isaacs encouraged fans to ask Netflix about the renewal.

This is the first video that shows the movements performed in order and in a straightforward manner. On the show and in other posts on social media, the movements are edited together from different angles, making it difficult for fans to teach themselves how to perform the careful choreography.

But now? They feel as if they were handed a template they would soon need, like a gift from a character in this augmented-reality "game."

Zendaya as Fola on "The OA: Part II." Netflix

The theory about gamification of the show itself also comes from a subplot on "Part II." One of the characters, played by Zendaya, is discussing a phone game that leads players to a mysterious house connected to OA.

"At a certain point, the puzzle goes IRL," she says.

Even back when fans thought they'd get a third season, this line of dialogue was sparking theories about augmented reality playing a role in the break between new episodes. With this new cancellation-fakeout theory, people truly believe we're living the IRL portion of the OA's game.

People also read into the final line of Holland's statement: "We look forward to working with them again in the future, in this and perhaps many other dimensions."

Zal Batmanglij, Marling, and Cindy Holland at a premiere event of "The OA" in 2016. AP

The closing line is a simple nod to the multidimensional storytelling of "The OA," but to a believer in the great conspiracy at work, it reads as if Holland is giving us a clue about "Part III" and the new meta-dimension OA is trapped inside.

In 2018, Holland said Marling and Batmanglij had pitched a five-part plan for "The OA" from the start. But there was never a promise that all five parts would get made.

There are whole compilations of "clues" you can read on the show's subreddit, many of which are the top posts in the community this week.

The show's creators and stars are all posting 'goodbye' messages on social media

Marling was the first of the "OA" team to address the cancellation on social media.

"Some of you may know already or some of you may be learning from this letter that Netflix will not be continuing 'The OA,'" she wrote. "Zal and I are deeply sad not to finish this story."

A post shared by Brit Marling (@britmarling) Aug 5, 2019 at 10:05am PDT

Later, Marling repeated the phrasing, saying that "we cannot finish this story."

Batmanglij's Instagram post had an image of Steve on the first season finale of "The OA" with the simple caption "The OA (2016-2019)."

The OA (2016-2019) A post shared by Zal Batmanglij (@z_al) on Aug 5, 2019 at 10:23am PDT Aug 5, 2019 at 10:23am PDT

The day after the cancellation, Isaacs shared his goodbye letter to the characters and actors who made up "The OA."

"Practice the movements and I'll see you on the other side," he concluded. "What a ride."

The four actors who played OA's youngest friends — Alexander, Paddy Gibson, Brandon Perea, and Brendan Meyer — all posted their versions of goodbyes too.

I can only be thankful and joyous of just how much this show has given me. I’ll never forget the first time I met Brit and Zal in New York. I was 20 years old and still trying to figure out all sorts of things about the world and my place in it. I hadn’t worked in a while and my confidence was at an all time low but their kindness and intuition allowed me to open up and start a journey of discovery that I am still on. Their story allowed me to breath. Big love to everyone who watched the show and has shared their thoughts/experiences/theories with me since, it’s been pretty awesome getting to have conversations about interdimensional travel with strangers on a weekly basis. I will always cherish this time. BBA and the Boys! ❤️ A post shared by Patrick Gibson (@paddygibson) on Aug 6, 2019 at 5:31am PDT Aug 6, 2019 at 5:31am PDT

Claire Kiechel, a writer who worked on "Part II," shared an essay with the subreddit, thanking its members for their passionate outcry and lamenting the ending to the series.

"I don't know what's going to happen, and no, I'm not part of a meta conspiracy and a cynical attempt at marketing (c'mon do you know us?)" Kiechel wrote.

In her essay, Kiechel mourned the loss of "The OA" as a unique story of a heroine's journey that stood out against a landscape of male-dominated narratives.

A huge aspect of OA's story is having to maintain faith in herself despite people telling her she's simply "crazy." Nicola Goode/Netflix

"We are trying to repair the language that we have and find a new way forward, a more collective, spiritual, ecologically responsible narrative for our modern day," she said. "One that asks us to all dig deeper, be kinder, connect more, seek truth."

The essay concluded with a plea to save the series "not because it's a TV show, but because it's a cry for connection in a world that has lost its language."

"Imagination is our only hope," she wrote.

The powerful themes of 'The OA' ask fans to transcend doubt and lean into faith

The odds that Netflix has partnered with the show's cocreators to stage a public fake cancellation of their own show to play into a meta-narrative around storytelling seem low — especially given INSIDER's source with knowledge of the situation who said that "the show is not returning."

But the irony here is that that's exactly the type of "what the heck is happening" narrative Marling and Batmanglij have conjured again and again while hoping their audience will take an earnest leap of faith with them.

"The OA" is compelling and weird and beautiful precisely because of the way it confronts you with characters and circumstances that seem silly and fantastical but manages to reach in and touch your heart anyway. It asks you to believe and then rewards that belief.

OA doing the "movements" on "Part I." Netflix

Movements that can bring the dead back to life and transport you to an alternate dimension. A magical house that provides a portal to see the truth if only the seeker is willing to succumb to the incredulous. An ancient octopus called Old Night who talks to angels as part of a stage show in a San Francisco club. Five strangers who become a family all because a woman who calls herself the Original Angel asks them to trust in her. An FBI agent (who might be an angel himself) (and is played by Riz Ahmed) who helps those five get to her and save her life.

Nothing about "The OA" makes sense on paper. Everything about "The OA" makes sense once you've experienced it.

We didn't even mention the "tree internet." Netflix

The solace and poignancy found inside Marling and Batmanglij's ballsy narrative choices was the magic of "The OA." And that trust — plus asking fans to be earnest and vulnerable and willing to suspend disbelief — is the exact fuel that carries this "Part III" theory.

There's no way of knowing how long this faith will last while "The OA's" unfinished story lays tantalizingly out of reach. It feels as if there is no way to kill the hope. The very nature of the show's fandom goes against cynicism and doubt.

And if — by some miracle of all "The OA" miracles — this really is a layers-deep conspiracy to plant a TV show's future season within the real world, then it would just be the greatest deceptive stunt ever pulled in recent television history.