When “Paradise” returns for its second season Monday, fans will be treated not just to a bigger world, but a bigger cast as well.
According to series creator Dan Fogelman, leaving the bunker has been the plan since the Hulu show’s inception — and he’s happy to explore what’s outside while staying in his own backyard.
“I was realizing backstage, it’s kind of normal to thank the big shots at the studio and network and then thank the teams that work with them, but I did want to take a second to really take a moment to thank them for taking a chance on this show,” Fogelman said at Wednesday’s premiere on the Paramount lot. “We often tend to paint the ‘big bad bosses’ as the people who take notes and control the purse strings, and not enough credit is given when they really do something. In this case, they took a story from a writer who had never tread in the genre before, that was not based on any original IP, that was not cheap — the actors are not cheap, look at [star and EP Sterling K. Brown].”
“We get to have hundreds, even thousands of people in this city, many of whom are here, our team who we’ve worked with for almost a decade now. It’s really important. This town is in existential crisis right now. Our favorite restaurant down the street just closed … because after the strikes and with the business shrinking a little bit in town, it’s hard for them to keep the doors open,” he continued. “There’s a clear line and effect when we move our shows out of Los Angeles, so when our studio lets us do this very expensive, very hard, very difficult show that’s not based on any IP in L.A., hopefully it gives studios the confidence to do it with others as we all come together and try to keep work here.”
Season 2 of “Paradise” welcomes Shailene Woodley and Thomas Doherty to the cast, as survivors who did not have the luxury of avoiding societal collapse from the comfort of a multi-billion-dollar Colorado bunker. That means Fogelman and Brown had to craft a post-apocalyptic America in Southern California.
“We’ve had this planned for a while, when I first pitched the show to Sterling, I was like, ‘The second season if going to be different and it’s going to get bigger and bigger and bigger,’” the writer told TheWrap on the red carpet. “It’s been exciting to figure out how to execute it … The challenges of production were really interesting and exciting to attack because it’s a completely different show in the second season.”
So how exactly did Fogelman get Woodley to join Hulu’s most socialed show of 2025? (as ABC Entertainment executive vice president of Development and Content Strategy Simran Sethi noted in her pre-screening introduction.)
“I didn’t know if she was going to be available, she was at the top of my list — always, for all things. Then we found out she might have a window of availability, so she and I Zoomed,” he recalled. “The kid showed up Day 1 on set being asked to carry the entire first episode of a show she hadn’t been in, and she’s stunning in it. She’s become a friend, I’m really fond of her as a person and an actor. I’m excited for people to see her.”
Woodley, Brown and Doherty were joined by co-stars Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Jon Beavers, Krys Marshall, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, Charlie Evans and Enuka Okuma on the red carpet. The evening also featured an afterparty with other notable guests such as Ryan Michelle Bathe, Erika Alexander, Garcelle Beauvais, Kim Fields, Kalen Allen and executives Eric Schrier, Karey Burke and Craig Erwich.
“Paradise” returns for Season 2 this Monday, Feb. 23, on Hulu.
