Just days before Paradises big season 1 finale, Hulu announced that the hit sci-fi thriller had officially been greenlighted for a second season. The news was a relief to writer John Hoberg, who spoke to Polygon shortly after the news broke, because he was dialing in from the shows offices, where work was already underway on Paradise season 2.
“We felt it coming, but its not official until its official,” Hoberg said. “When you work on a show with James Marsden, who just did Jury Duty, you never believe the show is real until its picked up!”
The fact that the writers are steadily mapping out plans for the second season, unlike so many prestige dramas that take years to return, there are plenty of hints at what to expect from the next set of episodes. Heres what we know so far about Paradise season 2.
When will Paradise season 2 premiere?A green light is one thing, but in a world in which it takes a mystery-box show like Severance three years to come back to TV, its fair for fans to wonder how quickly the Paradise creative team can continue the story. Well, shortly after the finale, creator Dan Fogelman took to X to make perfectly clear that not only are the scripts in the works, enough are done that cameras are about to roll.
Who is in Paradise season 2?The end of Paradise season 1 makes perfectly clear where secret service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is headed: Having blown open the conspiracies surrounding the underground “Paradise” bunker, and discovered that his wife might still be alive on the decimated surface of Earth, Xavier is last seen in the cockpit of an airplane, preparing to take off into the unknown. In various post-finale interviews, Brown has confirmed hes ready and raring to go for season 2.
Based on hints on whats next in season 2, much of the bunker cast is confirmed to return, including Julianne Nicholson as the diabolical billionaire Sinatra. As for James Marsden, who is 100% definitely dead, Fogelman told Variety that “its definitely not going to be the last weve seen” President Cal and that flashbacks allow pretty much any deceased character to come back into the show in future episodes.
“The story will dictate where characters like Cal or like Billy Pace can come back and play in our world. But there is a big picture story were telling here that will allow more stuff to happen.”
The style of the show will evolve Photo: Brian Roedel/DisneyIn Polygons interview with Paradise finale writer Nadra Widatalla, who had lots to say about cracking season 1s murder mystery, Widatalla also shared a few hints about where Paradise will go next — mainly, that the flavors may change.
“Were going into season 2 posing new questions, but its bigger and its more exciting,” Widatalla said. “Its not what people are expecting, but it will answer the questions that people have. What is out there? Is Terri alive, and what happened to her? What happened if she isnt? All those questions people are asking now that hes on a plane and hes headed out will be answered. It just may or may not be what people are expecting.”
In various interviews, Fogelman has compared season 2 to The Empire Strikes Back, and that he sees the season as the middle of a trilogy. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brown also said that well meet a number of new characters in season 2 who will get flashbacks of their own. “If Lost and The Wire had a baby, it would be Paradise.”
Where will Xavier go in Paradise season 2?Fogelman has put to rest any theories that our heros plane would stall and doom him for another season in the bunker — Xavier will venture out into the wild.
“Potentially, were out in a world that has experienced trauma for the first time, so there are elements of that kind of Cormac McCarthys The Road kind of storyline,” the creator told Variety, “but we also have a big science fiction-genre story to tell.”
Whats less clear is if Xaviers wife, Teri, is actually alive. As season 1 demonstrated, its not always the best idea to take Sinatra at her word.
“I dont want to give anything away, but I think we wanted to make sure that we werent definitively saying whether or not shes alive or she isnt [in season 1],” Widatalla told Polygon. “And so making sure that along with episode 7 […] if we said that she was in a place that was completely destroyed, like Denver when the nuke went off, we wanted to make sure that she was in a place that we could play around whether or not something happened to her or not.”
Theres still plenty happening in the bunkerFogelman has hinted in his post-finale interviews that, in the way that Trent the librarian was positioned across various episodes to always be present but never forefronted, that there are plenty of Easter eggs in season 1 that will only be understood when season 2 rolls around. And a lot of that will take place in the bunker.
One thread that is dangling: What happens to Cals son Jeremy now that hes stood up in opposition to Sinatra? Widatalla says theres plenty left to explore there.
“I think, thematically, its like the young people in the world today. Do we do things the same? Do we do what our parents did or do we use this as a chance to do things differently? And I think its a beacon of hope for us. So I really love that we gave that arc for Jeremy and we leave room for these kids to really grow into who they want to be in this world.”
Fogelman also promises a twist in season 2 that will feel as upending as the pilots big reveal.
“The second season is going to turn what you thought the first season was —and what Paradise and the bunker was — a little bit on its head,” he told EW.
We will learn why Jane loves the Wii so much Image: HuluWidatalla also indulged our most pressing question: Will we get more Jane, the chipper bunker assassin who loves to play Wii tennis, in season 2? The answer is a definitive yes — but word is out on how much time there will be for Wii.
“Its an interesting character, and I think we intentionally leave her in a place that leaves a lot of room to play around in future seasons. When we meet her, and especially in that conversation with Billy when theyre being drilled by Sinatra, we think that shes just this innocent, really ditzy girl. But then realize that maybe this woman is far more intelligent than what we think. Or, lets flip that on its head — maybe she isnt far more intelligent than we think. Maybe she just wants to play Wii. All of those things can be true at the same time. But also we havent seen Janes backstory. So all that stuff is left for us to play around with in the future if we want to.”
