Buckle up, Paradise fans! Showrunner Dan Fogelman revealed a first look at season 2 while production is underway, and things did not seem like they were going great for Sterling K. Brown’s character, Xavier Collins.
“Season Two not playing around,” Dan, 49, captioned the picture of Sterling, 49, filming a scene for Paradise season 2 via Instagram on Wednesday, April 16.
In the image, Sterling was looking up toward something out of the frame, and one of his eyes had a red ring around the iris. Fans immediately took to the comments section to express their fear about the fate of the character.
“Sterling is THE STAR!! Y’all better leave that man alone!!” one Instagram user wrote.
Another person added, “He better make it back to them kids!!”
Paradise season 1 quickly became a huge hit on Hulu after it premiered on January 26, and featured several big names in starring roles. In the first episode, viewers watched as Xavier discovered the body of the President of the United States, Cal Bradford (James Marsden), in his bedroom at what appeared to be the White House. However, by the end of the premiere, fans learned Paradise was not the average political thriller.
Cal, Xavier and a group of 25,000 other people had been chosen to live in an underground community after the rest of the population was seemingly destroyed by a global catastrophe. Each episode revealed more and more of what was really going on, including everything from manipulated elections to surveillance, secret agendas and a growing resistance movement among the residents.
Xavier spent the entire first season of Paradise searching for the person responsible for Cal’s death, all while seemingly blaming the president for his wife Teri Collins’ death. Fans learned that Teri (Enuka Okuma) wasn’t able to get out of Atlanta, Georgia, in time to make it to the plane taking the chosen residents to the underground community. Cal had previously promised Xavier that he would make sure Teri made it, and when she didn’t, it put an enormous strain on their relationship.
However, in the final episode of season 1, Xavier was told by Sinatra (Julianne Nichols), self-made tech billionaire and architect behind the community, that Teri survived. She played a recording of Teri’s voice as a way to bargain with Xavier not to kill her. Sinatra also implied that Xavier’s daughter, Presley (Aliyah Mastin), had been killed. Before Xavier could pull the trigger on his gun and kill Sinatra, Agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) shot her in the neck, leaving her wounded but alive.
The season ended with Sinatra lying in a coma and Xavier making his way to the surface to search for Teri.
Hulu announced in February that Paradise had been renewed for season 2.
“Paradise is renewed for Season 2! Let’s go! #ParadiseHulu is now streaming on Hulu and with #HuluOnDisneyPlus. New episode Tuesday!” the series’ official Instagram page wrote alongside a video of Sterling.
The actor shared the news by showing the words “Season 2” written on his palm, a wink to an incident with his character in the first season.
Fans were worried they would have to wait years for a second season, but Dan quickly put their fears to rest.
“Please don’t wait two years to give us season 2 of Paradise @hulu,” a fan wrote via X on March 4.
Dan replied, “We start shooting in just a few weeks. It won’t be 2 years I promise! #Paradise.”
