'Paradise' Season 2: Everything We Know
Hulu's twist-filled dystopian thriller starring Sterling K. Brown returns in February.
If you're a devoted TV fan, odds are you spent the beginning of 2025 telling everyone you know to watch Paradise. The Hulu series starring Sterling K. Brown premiered on January 26, 2025, presenting as a political thriller following a Secret Service agent as he investigates the mysterious death of the president (played by James Marsden). Paradise quickly became a word-of-mouth hit (and eventual Emmy and Golden Globe nominee), thanks to the mind-blowing episode 1 plot twist that revealed the true nature of the idyllic small town where the show is based.
The Paradise season 1 finale confirmed who killed President Cal Bradford—and charted a course for the series to follow in its second season. If you, like me, are clamoring for any news of what comes next, read on for everything we know about Paradise season 2 so far.
President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) with Secret Service agents Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) and Nicole Robinson (Krys Marshall) in Paradise episode 7.
Has 'Paradise' been renewed for season 2?
Yes! Hulu announced Paradise was renewed for season 2 on February 20, 2025, several episodes into the smash-hit first season, as reported by Deadline. Creator Dan Fogelman reacted to the news on X (formerly Twitter) by writing, "Congrats to this fantastic team and thank you to all those watching and theorizing!"
The renewal means that Paradise is on track for Fogelman's original plan for the show as a "three-season series, eight episodes each," according to Variety.
Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) in the Paradise season 1 finale.
When will 'Paradise' season 2 be released?
In late 2025, at a Brazil Comic-Con panel, the series revealed that season 2 will premiere on Monday, February 23. Three episodes will drop on the 23rd, and the rest of the season will release weekly, up to the finale on March 30.
In an age when it can take years for a beloved series to return, Paradise fast-tracked its production schedule. The show was filmed from spring until August 2025, when Brown took to Instagram to reveal that production had wrapped. He shared a video from set of himself walking around while the cameras rolled on season 2 for the last time, and in the caption, he wrote, "Ladies and gentlemen, that is a SEASON 2 WRAP on #ParadiseHulu!!!! Trust that you are not prepared for what’s to come!!!! SOON… 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿."
In the clip, the actor/producer shared, "It is the last day on set of season 2 of Paradise. It feels good. It feels bittersweet."
"Things are going really well. We’re feeling really good about what we’re going to do," he continued. "Thanks for riding with us. Thanks for watching. We’re trying to give you something as good, if not better, the second time around."
Who in the 'Paradise' cast will return for season 2?
Based on season 1's body count, all of Paradise's remaining main cast will return. This includes Sterling K. Brown (Xavier Collins), Julianne Nicholson (Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond), Sarah Shahi (Dr. Gabriela Torabi), Nicole Brydon Bloom (Jane), Krys Marshall (Nicole Robinson), Aliyah Mastin, (Presley Collins), Percy Daggs IV (James Collins), and Charlie Evans (Jeremy Bradford). It's been said that James Marsden will also reprise his role as the late President Cal Bradford, via flashbacks.
However, it's unclear how much of the show's cast we'll see in season 2. Back in January, Fogelman told Variety that his plan for Paradise is similar to a show like HBO's The Wire, which was set in one city but "featured new dimensions of the city each season, with new characters that interacted with a stable of recurring players." Based on Paradise's season finale, Xavier will interact with many new characters in season 2.
Season 2 will introduce new characters played by Thomas Doherty and Shailene Woodley.
Which new cast members are joining 'Paradise' season 2?
In late March, Paradise announced the first new face joining its expanding cast: Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Shailene Woodley. The actress will play an undisclosed role in season 2. According to Deadline, the Big Little Lies and Three Women alum is expected to play a character linked to Xavier's game-changing new mission, revealed at the end of the season 1 finale.
Details have yet to be revealed regarding Woodley's role.
Woodley isn't the only name joining the show. One week later, Variety reported that Scottish actor Thomas Doherty (known for roles in the Gossip Girl reboot, Tell Me Lies, and movies like The Invitation) had been cast. Though the outlet reported details of his character are being kept under wraps, he's said to be "in a key recurring guest star role."
According to Deadline, season 2 has also added three more new actors in recurring roles: The Perfect Couple alum (and Fogelman regular) Michael McGrady, Psych's Timothy Omundson, and Mad Men alum Patrick Fischler.
What will 'Paradise' season 2 be about?
After Paradise season 1 ends with Xavier venturing outside of the bunker to find his wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), season 2 is set to follow two main storylines.
The official season 2 synopsis speaks to those two arcs: “Xavier searches for Teri out in the world and learns how people survived the three years since The Day. Back in Paradise, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of season 1, and new secrets are uncovered about the city’s origins.”
If you're dying to know more, Brown has teased some of what's to come. While promoting the Hulu period drama Washington Black, he told Entertainment Weekly, "Xavier's out in the world. He's looking for his wife, trying to find her. Is she alive? Is she not alive? Will he find her? Will he not find her? We see how people have been surviving that didn't have the means and the planning that the people inside the bunker did. They've made a way. It doesn't look as organized, obviously, but it is a way. We meet people who are benign. We meet people who are nefarious."
The actor also confirmed that viewers will see more President Cal flashbacks in the new season, in addition to the characters in Paradise. As for Sinatra, Brown teased that Fogelman plans to "[continue] to unearth who she is as a person and what her motivations are."
He shared, "I would even go so far as to say he is attempting a path of redemption. Whether Xavier sees that path or not, [I don't know]. He still probably just wants to kill her. But there's a little bit more that we learn about her throughout the course of the season that may change the way in which people see her."
Xavier (Brown) and his daughter Presley (Aliyah Mastin) in the Paradise season 1 finale.
Back in March 2025, Fogelman confirmed to Hollywood Reporter that the forthcoming season will eventually bring Xavier back to the bunker as the storylines collide.
"We’re going to live in both worlds," the creator told the outlet. "There is going to be a little bit of a start where we go on a journey with Xavier. A very exciting, emotional, big journey, and then we will also be living in our downstairs world of the bunker, and forces will eventually be colliding. That’s basically the plan."
The This Is Us creator also teased that Paradise isn't done with its monumental, genre-shifting twists, as it heads into season 2. "We have a really giant three-season story coming that’s bigger than what people think it is right now, and it’s going to span a couple of genres," he said. "The show was set up and sold as a political thriller about solving the murder of an assassinated president, and by the end of the first episode, you saw that it was something else, and it went into a different genre."
"The second season is going to do the same thing to the first season. It expands upon itself," he continued. "We have a plan and, hopefully, by the end of all three seasons, people will feel like they’ve been served a complete meal and that it’s all one piece, even though they went through a lot of different journeys to get to the end."
Is there a trailer for 'Paradise' season 2?
The cast and crew have teased that season 2 will be even more epic than the first, and by the looks of the official trailer, they're right! Hulu dropped the clip on January 28, confirming that we'll meet new characters (like the one played by Shailene Woodley) outside of the bunker. After Xavier ventures out to find Teri (and survives a motorcycle crash), he joins forces with Woodley's unnamed survivor. Meanwhile, new arrival Link (Thomas Doherty) hints that Paradise is hiding "something dangerous," before he and a convoy "knocks" on the bunker's front door.
The clip ends with the same menacing statement from Sinatra that concluded the first season 2 teaser, which was dropped during Brazil Comic Con. In the trailer, as Paradise opens its doors, we hear Sinatra saying, "I have a plan for all of us. It was never just about the bunker."
