'Paradise' stars on Graceland, Season 2 and real-life political drama

Kelly Lawler and Wendy Naugle, USA TODAYMon, February 23, 2026 at 9:43 PM UTC

0

Sterling K. Brown as Xavier in "Paradise" Season 2.

"Paradise" gets down in the jungle room in Season 2.

The sophomore season of Hulu's Emmy-nominated series expands in a major way as Sterling K. Brown's Xavier explores the brave new world outside the not-so-utopian bunker that was the setting for Season 1 of the drama. The sci-fi show takes place in a world in which the population has been mostly decimated by an apocalyptic natural disaster, except for the lucky few who made it into a bunker built for wealthy elites.

But for this new batch of episodes, "Paradise" jumps out of the bunker and right into Graceland − yes, that Graceland. Filled with new faces, including "Divergent" star Shailene Woodley, the new season of "Paradise" is bigger, more complex and even more relevant than ever. Speaking with USA TODAY, the cast previewed what you can expect in the exciting new season.

Graceland ain't bad for the apocalypse

Our first taste of what happened on the surface after the show's super volcano (and all the weather and man-made catastrophes that followed) follows Annie (Woodley), a med school-dropout turned Graceland tour-guide who makes her own personal sanctuary during the tumult in Elvis Presley's legendary home and tourist attraction.

Shailene Woodley as Annie in "Paradise."

"It was pretty much square inch to square inch replica of Graceland itself," says Woodley, whose Annie is seen huddling against the ice-age-like winter caused by the volcano in the King's furs, reading by the light of novelty Elvis candles and sleeping in a recreation of that iconic Jungle Room the mansion is known for. The theme-park-like aesthetic added to the unreality of Annie's situation, living mostly in solitary confinement for the years after the world ended. "The interior design of Graceland is not common," she jokes. "Graceland was a big character."

Woodley's Annie is among several new faces for "Paradise," joining such veteran cast members as Brown, Julianne Nicholson and James Marsden. Thomas Doherty ("Tell Me Lies") also joins as Link, a mysteriously knowledgable and powerful figure on the surface, intent on finding the bunker for more than just its resources and protection. Both actors were welcomed by the close-knit cast.

"Shailene was wonderful," says Brown, "Such a warm, real person. There are people who have been in Los Angeles for a certain amount of time that they feel kinda like, they have like a little bit of a gloss on them. ... Shai is just real people."

"Someone that I have looked up to for my whole career is Shailene. To be able to work with her, to get to know her and just fall in love with her as a person was really special," says Doherty, whose character happens to fall in love with Annie in the season's first episode, set entirely from Annie's point of view. The pair have an amorous meeting that will have consequences for the rest of the season.

"It's always quite nerve wracking," Doherty says of filming Link and Annie's most intimate scene. "That level of intimacy with someone that you look up to and admire so much. ... I think it was beneficial that we weren't as familiar with each other when we shot it."

Advertisement

In the bunker, life isn't 'Paradise' anymore

Although the surface is dangerous and hellish, down in the bunker, things aren't going smoothly, either. Nicholson's Samantha Redmond, aka "Sinatra," was critically wounded by her pet psychopath Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) in the Season 1 finale as the citizens of Paradise started to get wise to the crimes of their founders. Sinatra may be down, but don't count her out, says Nicholson.

Julianne Nicholson as "Sinatra" in "Paradise" Season 2.

"She starts season two from a place of vulnerability," the actress tells USA TODAY. "And while she pretty quickly finds her way back on top, she needs to work even harder to protect her family and protect the citizens of Paradise."

The season also brings back Marsden, whose boyish president Cal Bradford died in Season 1, for occasional flashbacks, along with Billy (Jon Beavers), another victim of the terrifying Jane. The themes of money, power, corruption and sacrifice remain as the show's universe gets more complex, and the layers of the mystery of the bunker are peeled back even further.

Brown can't reveal too much about what's to come, but he's happy to tease fans.

"Mammoth, it's mammoth," he says of the season finale. "Like the way (episode) seven from season one was our mammoth episode, the finale) is the behemoth of Season 2."

Is 'Paradise' a wild fantasy or too close to real life?

The show may be postapocalyptic science fiction, but the cast sees parallels with scary realities of the world we live in now.

"People have been building bunkers," says Brown. "Some sound like there's possibilities of actual government projects to fund, you know, underground communities, et cetera. Possibly real, possibly not. You don't know, but like, it doesn't seem as farfetched as it once did. It also just seems that there is a nasty entanglement of business and politics, and that we are in service of the people that finance our campaigns rather than in service of an electorate."

"It was not our intention, and we were not trying to reflect anything back at our audiences, but it would be hard not to see the similarities," Nicholson says. "I mean, I question deeply with each passing day right now. With the billionaires and the firings and AI ... , it's all definitely in the forefront of my mind."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Paradise' stars on Graceland, Season 2 and real-life political drama

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”