Paradise Season 2: Latest News, Cast, Trailer, Plot, and Everything to Know

Hulu's Paradise has it all: a murder mystery involving a former president, a sci-fi premise that seems to be just scratching the surface of where the show is going, a political thriller full of deceit and strife, and, of course, some steamy shower scenes. But what Paradise has that Hulu is most excited about is plenty of buzz and fans. The series quickly became a social and ratings hit as we all opened up Dan Fogelman's mystery box story about a special community rocked by murder, and Hulu renewed the show for a second season just six episodes into its first.

Paradise stars Sterling K. Brown as Xavier Collins, a secret service agent investigating the murder of a former president (James Marsden) in a tight-knit community that's serving as a safe haven from the outside world. Believing his wife has died, Xavier fights to maintain a normal life for his kids, but that becomes harder and harder to do as he unpacks a conspiracy with world-shattering consequences and butts heads with the person in charge, a billionaire who goes by the codename Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) and will do anything to keep order. Series creator Dan Fogelman also created the NBC series This Is Us, and many of that show's hallmarks — flashbacks, twists, emotional character arcs — are all over Paradise.

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With Season 2 almost here, we're looking forward to when we can see Paradise again, what Season 2 will be about, and who is coming back.

Paradise Season 2 release date

Season 2 of Paradise will premiere on Monday, Feb. 23 on Hulu with the first three episodes, and new episodes will air weekly after that. Though Season 1 had a run on ABC, there currently aren't any plans to do the same with Season 2. 

The February release date follows Fogelman's promise to bring back the series more quickly than most shows, which have frustrated fans with waits between seasons that have taken 18 months or longer. Season 1 of Paradise premiered on Jan. 26, 2025.

"Scripts are written. We go into production in four weeks," Fogelman told Deadline in early March 2025. "I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with shows that are off the air for a very long time in which people get invested in and then it takes a long time to get it back on television. We're ready to go right now and hoping to get this show back on TV in a normal span of time, hopefully the same time as it came out this past year as opposed to waiting multiple years. So if we came out in early 2025, hopefully the next season's out by early 2026."

Paradise Season 2 trailer

In late January, the first full-length trailer for Paradise Season 2 was released, showing off the series' new direction. After a brief recap about what happened in Season 1 — nearly total destruction of the surface of the Earth and Xavier's decision to go look for his wife after learning she may have survived — the trailer shows Shailene Woodley's character meeting up with Xavier and asking about the secret underground simulated city Xavier has been living in for three years ("So it's real," she says, indicating that people on the surface are aware of it), and Link (new cast member Thomas Doherty) leading what appears to be an assault on Sinatra's bunker. 

On Dec. 6, Hulu released the first teaser for Season 2, which shows off Woodley's new character, Xavier on his quest to find his wife, a glimpse of President Bradford (in a flashback, presumably), Sinatra saying, "It was never just about the bunker," and what appears to be the unexpected but very welcome return of Billy Pace. Fogelman has a lot of explaining to do!

Paradise Season 2 renewal

Hulu announced that Paradise was renewed for a second season on Feb. 20, 2025, which was six episodes into the first season. 

How many seasons will Paradise run?

Though Paradise is only one season into its run, creator Fogelman already has an end in sight. "We have this very precise three-year plan, and this next season coming is kind of the middle episode of our trilogy with also its own beginning, middle, and end," Fogelman told The Hollywood Reporter following the Season 1 finale. "We have a three-season story that's bigger than what people think it is right now, and it's going to span a couple of genres."

What will happen in Paradise Season 2?

[Spoilers for Season 1 of Paradise follow. Read at your own risk!] At the end of Season 1, Xavier was on his way out of the bunker city via airplane after learning that his wife was still alive — and others were as well — after the many disasters that blanketed the outside world. That's going to put him on quite an adventure as he heads above ground. "We are going to pretty much be picking up in real time," Fogelman told The Hollywood Reporter in March 2025. "We're going to live in both worlds. 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."

In early April 2025, Brown expanded on Xavier's story in Season 2. "There will be an exploration of the world outside of the bunker and what's transpired over the past three years, so you'll get a chance to see some things up close and personal," the actor told Deadline. "It's not the same. We were able to plan, with infrastructure and money. They were not, so you'll see the difference between those two things." He continued, "We'll find out whether or not his wife is alive. Was she alive at the course of that tape? Has she survived up until that point, et cetera? You still get a chance to find out what's going on in the bunker."

This premise means Xavier will meet new characters as he explores the outside world to look for his wife — and these characters won't just be warm bodies he passes along the way. "Structurally, we'll be introduced to people on the outside and then sort of flash back in their lives as well," Brown told Variety. "If Lost and The Wire had a baby, it would be Paradise," he said, referencing The Wire's knack for changing its focus each season.

Paradise Season 2 cast

[Spoilers for Season 1 of Paradise follow.] As Xavier ventures above ground, the people he meets will be important to the story, with the show exploring not only who they are now but also who they were before disaster struck. Shailene Woodley will apparently play one of the people Xavier encounters on the surface. Deadline reported in March that the Big Little Lies actress is joining Season 2 of Paradise in a "major recurring role." No details on her character have been confirmed by Hulu, but according to Deadline, Woodley is rumored to be playing a "prominent survivor." 

Thomas Doherty has also been cast as a survivor in Season 2 in a major recurring role; according to Deadline, Doherty will play Link, the leader of a biker gang. Also per Deadline, Michael McGrady and Timothy Omundson are joining Season 2 as members of that gang. McGrady is reported to be playing Link's second in command, Geiger, while Omundson will play a character called Chef.

Raymond Cham Jr. is also joining the cast in a recurring role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As for the returning cast, expect the major players from Season 1 to be back for Season 2, including Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra. Though Sinatra was shot by Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) at the end of the season, she's not dead and will survive to see Season 2. But she'll be at a low point as she deals with her injury and the threat to her power. "You could imagine a version of her that is on a quest to regain her position amid who filled the power vacuum while she's been out, and her being desperate to reclaim it," Fogelman said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "But you also have to wonder if the psychological toll of the season's events have changed her and what that's going to do." 

It's unclear how much more we'll see of James Marsden, who played President Cal Bradford. His time on Paradise might be limited with his character killed off and his killer's identity — the bunker's librarian — revealed in the Season 1 finale. But Fogelman loves to use flashbacks and previously said that he hoped to get Marsden in at some point, which the teaser trailer suggests he found a way to do. "The story will dictate where characters like Cal or like Billy Pace can come back and play in our world," Fogelman told Variety in March 2025. "But there is a big picture story we're telling here that will allow more stuff to happen."  

Paradise cast:

• Sterling K. Brown as Agent Xavier Collins
• Julianne Nicholson as Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond
• Sarah Shahi as Dr. Gabriela Torabi
• Nicole Brydon Bloom as Agent Jane Driscoll
• Aliyah Mastin as Presley Collins
• Percy Daggs IV as James Collins
• Krys Marshall as Agent Nicole Robinson
• Shailene Woodley as a survivor
• Thomas Doherty as Link

Where to watch Paradise

Paradise Season 1 is streaming on Hulu.