‘Paradise’ Season 2 Finale: Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Doherty and Executive Producer Talk Big Sci-Fi Twist, ‘Multiverse’ Plans for Third and Final Season

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “Paradise,” now streaming on Hulu.

Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) has a new mission heading into the third season of “Paradise,” but whether he’ll accept it is up for debate at the end of the second-season finale of Dan Fogelman’s drama, which premiered Monday on Hulu.

In the final episode of the second season of “Paradise,” titled “Exodus,” it is revealed that the “Alex” that Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) has been hiding is a supercomputer more advanced than any AI, to the point that it is potentially capable of time travel. The device was created by Link (Thomas Doherty), who is now hell-bent on shutting it down because he fears it has taken on a life of its own and may be a detriment to Earth’s remaining inhabitants rather than a saving grace.

At the same time, Sinatra has formed the theory that not only is Link actually (somehow, thanks to Alex) his deceased son, Dylan, but that Alex is the key to reversing what happened to Earth, and Xavier is the one who needs to solve it. Why Javier? Alex has provided instructions for a «User And before Sinatra sacrifices himself to close the bunker while everyone else escapes its destruction, he tells Xavier that he has to be the one to go to Alex and save them all, because he believes that somehow he has already done it in the future, leading to timeline anomalies like Link/Dylan.

«I think this is Fogelman’s exploration of the multiverse. Any show that’s about genre and science fiction or anything else loves to play with the idea of ​​whether time travel is a possibility.» brown said Variety. «And what are the rules that dictate our excursion into time travel? The first time I really got excited about it was ‘Back to the Future’. You’ve seen that Marvel has dealt with the multiverse and all the different timelines. ‘Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ has done its thing too. I find it intriguing, because ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is more real than people think. And it unlocks your brain in such a way that anything you think possible can be if you can conceive it.”

Brown continued, «And now that this is being introduced into our world, I think the question is: What do you really want? Do you want to go back? Do you want to move on and leave him alone? Is he too mysterious to even play with, or is he too compelling not to? And different people have different decisions to make based on where they are in life at that particular moment. And you’ll see how that plays out over the course of Season 3.»

“Paradise” executive producer and co-writer of the Season 2 finale, John Hoberg, confirms that creator Fogelman’s plan is still a three-season arc, and that the upcoming Season 3, which will begin filming on April 7, will serve as a “pretty definitive” ending to the story.

«If you think about where all of our characters are and what we’re left with at the end, meaning Sinatra has given Xavier the task of going to this second bunker, the question for me is: Will he do it?» —Hoberg joked. «Does she believe in what Sinatra is doing? Is Sinatra really doing good? Is this machine doing what she thinks? Or is she actually just dealing with her own pain, like she said? And will Xavier answer the call to do what she wants? I don’t know if I can name a specific genre (to describe season 3), but I do know that as we move forward, Xavier has been given a task, and I’m wondering, is he going to follow through on this? And what are the repercussions if he does? does and if it doesn’t?

What makes Xavier the chosen one in this case? Hoberg promises that “Paradise” will answer that burning question, and many more, before the series ends. In fact, it’s been a mission for Fogelman and the «Paradise» writers’ room (who just presented the series’ final outline to Brown last week) not to leave any major loose ends: «There’s a reason why Xavier is User X, and we’ll find out,» Hoberg said.

«I think from Season 1 we established the moral compass that Agent Collins is, and that he is willing to make difficult decisions for the greater good,» Brown added. «There is something about him and the reason Dr. Torabi chose him to be part of the President’s Secret Service in the first place to come to the bunker that makes him uniquely equipped to deal with difficult situations in the clearest way possible.»

Meanwhile, Link/Dylan is also dealing with an identity crisis: maybe he’s Sinatra’s son, he’s definitely the father of the now-deceased Annie’s (Shailene Woodley) young daughter, and he’s potentially still leading the crusade to take down Alex.

«He knows it’s doable. Is that true? We don’t know yet. We’ll find out, definitely, in season 3, so I don’t want to say too much about that,» Doherty said. «I think with Season 3, we’ll start to see all this information – I mean, one of those things, individually, it’s hard to calculate, to understand, let alone process. I think we’ll start to see him start to process his daughter. We’ll start to see how he processed Sinatra as potentially his mother. We’ll start to see the loss of Annie.»

Although nothing can be confirmed yet. Brown says that the «coincidence» of Link/Dylan’s name and his date of birth «goes beyond mere coincidence, but more like a coincidence.»

«There are things that we had in that ending that were removed that go a little further in trying to explain the connection,» Brown said. «I think they finally decided to eliminate them, because I don’t know if the science is scientific exactly. What can I say? Oh my God! They’re obviously connected. I don’t think it’s just their pain that’s working out. There’s a connection.»

At the end of the «Paradise» season 2 finale, Xavier’s family has been reunited, but his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) and children Presley (Aliyah Mastin) and James (Percy Daggs IV) now face a new challenge, along with the thousands of people who have just been expelled from the now-destroyed bunker.

«You had the 10,000 people that Link had, the 20,000 people that were inside the bunker,» Brown said. «There is no central leadership. You could say that Link is leading the people outside, but there are a lot of people who came to do something and now it’s a question of: do they continue to destroy Alex? Do they change course? Is Alex not that important anymore? What do the people inside the bunker decide to do? Will they stay together? Will they split up and try to find their own people? There will be many different groups that will be scattered throughout season 3 and we will follow them. everyone.”

Doherty says that in the third season of “Paradise” “it will be very, very interesting” to see the dynamic between Link/Dylan and Xavier, as Dylan seeks to raise his young daughter (which Xavier brought him only for the “sacred trust” of Annie) and continue his search.

«I think they’re cut from a very similar cloth, but I think Xavier is much more settled as a human being. He’s older, he’s more experienced, he’s got more composure; whereas, where we left off with Dylan, he’s still full of grit and justice,» Doherty said. «And, as younger people tend to be, he has that testosterone and it forces them to say ‘this is the right thing’. It will be very interesting for him to be around someone who shares very, very similar beliefs, but who is also more realistic than him. Will Dylan learn from him or will he fight against Xavier?»

Xavier has other problems to deal with: now that he’s reunited with his wife, who is believed to be dead, he has to explain to Teri about his one-night stand with Dr. Torabi (Sarah Shahi). «You’ll see in Season 3 that it’s obviously been brought to his attention,» Brown said. «And you’ll see how they handle it as a couple. We’re not going to overlook it.»

Overall, the Collins family is happy to be back together, but a lot has changed in the few years they have been apart, as Xavier and the children lived in the bunker and Teri survived outside.

«I think it’s a very different setup,» Brown said. «We also have two more white babies with us. A lovely welcome to the tribe. I think he’s happy as a pig in the dump to be with his wife, to be with his children. They’ve obviously been displaced, so they have to figure out what life is like for them now, where they’re going to go, where they’re going to settle, who’s going to be part of their tribe? Their daughter’s getting old. She’s got a boyfriend, she’s leaving there.»