“Can I tell you a secret, something no one else knows?” Sinatra says near the end of “Paradise” Season 2’s first footage, “It was never just about the bunker.” And that becomes incredibly apparent as you watch the teaser trailer released today, which shows us where the post-apocalyptic drama will pick up when its sophomore run gets underway in February.
“Paradise” will return with a three-episode premiere on Monday, February 23, Hulu announced in conjunction with the show’s panel at CCXP in Brazil. Subsequent episodes will follow weekly. The streamer also released the first footage from the new season, which you can watch above.
First things first: Air Force One appears to have crash-landed in a tree on the surface, and both Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) and the plane are in bad shape at the start of the preview. But there do, indeed, seem to be people who survived a catastrophic climate event/nuclear attack, and we get fleeting glances of them throughout the roughly minute-long video. One of them, shown from the back, could even be Xavier’s wife, Teri. Dare we — and he — hope?
The preview also gives us glimpses of familiar characters who lived to see the end of Season 1 (like Julianne Nicholson’s Sinatra, Sarah Shahi’s Dr. Gabriela Torabi and Nicole Brydon Bloom’s Jane) as well as a couple who didn’t (James Marsden’s President Cal Bradford, whose killing kicked off the entire series, and could that really be Jon Beavers, who played Xavier’s murdered friend/co-worker Billy Pace?) Regarding that last part: Yes, it could! Both Beavers and Marsden are confirmed as a recurring guest star in the upcoming episodes.
Given that the show makes liberal use of flashbacks, it’s highly possible we’re just seeing these dearly departed characters in scenes set in the past. That likely also is the case for how we’re introduced to the character played by new cast member Shailene Woodley (“Big Little Lies”), who looks like she might be a scientist investigating the imminent climate crisis that brought about the end of the world as we know it.
According to the official Season 2 synopsis: “Xavier searches for Teri out in the world and learns how people survived the three years since The Day. Back in Paradise, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of Season 1, and new secrets are uncovered about the city’s origins.”
The Season 2 cast also includes returnees Krys Marshall, Enuka Okuma, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV and Charlie Evans as well as new additions Thomas Doherty (“Tell Me Lies”), Timothy Omundson (“Psych”) and Michael McGrady (“The Perfect Couple”) in mystery roles.
Press PLAY on the video above to watch the teaser, then hit the comments: Are you planning to return to “Paradise” for Season 2?