Spoiler alert! Spoilers ahead for Paradise Season 1, so if you haven’t seen the series, please stream it with your Hulu subscription before continuing to read.
We’re still firmly in the first half of the year, but already Hulu’s Paradise has made a strong case for being among the best new series on the 2025 TV schedule. Fans were left in shock after an intense Season 1 finale, and Hulu didn’t waste any time in renewing it for a second run. I guess creator Dan Fogelman is trying to strike while the iron’s hot, because we’ve already gotten our first new character for the upcoming season, and I’m so excited about the rumored role.
Shailene Woodley has been announced as the first new cast member to join Paradise Season 2, Deadline reports. Woodley is likely best known for playing protective single mother Jane on the Big Little Lies adaptation and teen mom Amy on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, as well as one of George Clooney’s daughters in The Descendents.
The actress signed on for a major recurring role on the dystopian political thriller, and while no official information was released about the character she’ll play on Paradise Season 2, there are rumors that have me really hyped.
At the end of Season 1, it was revealed to Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) that natural and nuclear disaster did not wipe out humanity on the surface of the Earth. There were survivors — including Xavier’s wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) — and the Secret Service agent was headed out of their large underground bunker in search of survivors.
According to rumors, that’s where Shailene Woodley may come in. Deadline says Woodley’s arc is allegedly tied to Xavier’s mission, as she may play a prominent survivor.
The actress — who is also known for projects like The Fault in Our Stars, the Divergent series and Ferrari. — has such range that her character could go in so many directions, so there’s really no guessing how she will help (or hinder?) Xavier’s mission.
We also know that Shailene Woodley is able to carry an emotional storyline, and with Dan Fogelman running the show, you can bet Paradise hits This Is Us-esque emotional notes. I definitely don’t expect that to let up in Season 2. We already got the most heartbreaking scene between Xavier and Teri in the first season; I’m scared about what to expect now that we know she survived the initial disaster.
Speaking of things to be afraid of in Paradise’s second season, not only will we venture out to largely unknown territory for the first time, but what will happen inside the utopian bunker is just as fraught.
As Julianne Nicholson’s Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond watched things unravel in her manmade paradise, she became quite unhinged, but she appears to be nothing in comparison to secret assassin Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom). The new villain was willing to go on a bloody rampage for some Wii Tennis, so there are seemingly no limits to the evil she’s capable of.
I can't wait to find out more about Shailene Woodley's character and Season 2 in general, but in the meantime, the first season is available to stream on Hulu.
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