Paradise's Sterling K. Brown Drops Season 2 Intel: When To Expect A Major Twist, Who Gets A Backstory Episode And More (Exclusive First Look)

The "Paradise" bunker may be open, but star/executive producer Sterling K. Brown's lips are sealed.

Mostly.

Of course, Brown isn't at liberty to offer a ton of detail about Season 2 of his and Dan Fogelman's Hulu series: The element of surprise that served "Paradise" so well in its freshman run is preserved in its return, which kicks off with three episodes dropping on Monday, February 23. But the Emmy winner is excited to tell TVLine as much as he possibly can about the new season, which picks up after Brown's Xavier Collins commandeers Air Force One, cranks open the underground bunker where he's been living, and heads out in search of his wife, Teri.

With new co-stars like Shailene Woodley ("Big Little Lies") and Thomas Doherty ("Tell Me Lies"), the upcoming season "is going to be really good," Brown says gleefully. "I can't wait."

We can't, either! Take a good look at the exclusive first look photo above, then scroll down to see what we could get Brown to give up — starting with the character returns we saw in that first trailer.

Jon Beavers' Billy Pace and James Marsden's President Cal Bradford both died in Season 1 but — as the teaser footage indicates — both will appear in upcoming episodes. "It's the beauty of being in a [Dan] Fogelman show," Sterling K. Brown says. "You can be dead from the beginning and still be in the show the whole time it's on!"

Indeed, past Fogelman series like "This Is Us" and "Pitch" relied heavily on flashbacks featuring characters who were not alive in the present-day plot. But might Billy have survived his outta-nowhere poisoning by girlfriend/secret assassin Jane? Or is the shot of Billy — looking scruffier on the whole than the last time we saw him — from before the climate catastrophe that drove humanity underground?

"You'll see him in Episode 3," Brown says enigmatically, "and when you do that, I feel like it opens up the mythology of the world that we're in and references this line that Sinatra has: 'It was never just about the bunker.'"

After working with Dan Fogelman for all six seasons of "This Is Us," Sterling K. Brown says he's used to the executive producer reveling in the surprises he's got planned. "He loves a good jaw-drop. It's one of his favorite things, especially amongst cast and crew," he says. "I remember when he came up to me [on "This Is Us"] and he goes, 'Hey, what do you think about William Hill being gay?' And I was like, 'Huh?' And then it unfolds, and you're like, 'Son of a gun!'"

Expect the unexpected this season, Brown advises: "I can't tell you what it is, [but] it happens in Episode 3 — one of the big ones — but then you backtrack and you start to clock things that were even present in Episode 2, as well."

As a bonus, we'll add in this context-free bit about Fogelman during Brown's discussion of the season premiere: "He loves just teasing it out," the actor says, laughing. "He's a master of foreplay."

A large part of "Paradise" freshman success can be attributed to the fact that Season 1's central mysteries — who killed President Bradford?, and what caused a community of humans to relocate to an underground bunker? — were solved by the season finale. But many a sci-fi series has been felled by ambitious an second season that flew too close to the sun (or, in this case, dome-set solar lamps). Reassure us, Brown!

"When Fogelman — at least, these last two incarnations, "This Is Us" and "Paradise" — he has a number of episodes in mind, and a point of closure to the story that he starts with, right? So he's building toward something. I think some of these other shows that you're talking about, the model was a little bit different, and you're just trying to keep it on air as long as you possibly can — and if things become filler, then so be it."

He adds: "We have three seasons of television planned, and we have an end point that we are building up to. I think that once we get there, the landing will be stuck." (Editor's note: Though Fogelman has often spoken of "Paradise" as a three-season show, Hulu has not yet officially renewed the drama for Season 3.)

As revealed during the show's 2025 San Diego Comic-Con panel, part of the Season 2 premiere a) takes place at Elvis Presley's Graceland, and b) goes back to the civilization-ending events covered in Season 1's "The Day." (Read a full recap here.) Or, as Sterling K. Brown puts it, the hour "revisits the day that the world got flipped turned upside down."

Where as "The Day" showed how harrowing the day was for the president and his team — all of whom knew it was coming, if not exactly when — the upcoming season-opener shows us how Woodley's character and a bunch of everyday folk do when taken completely unawares. "Like, nobody knows anything. We're in the middle of Graceland. Everybody's taking tours, visiting The King, thinking that they're just going to have a good ol' day, and then the world just blows up in front of them," Brown previews. "And they're like, 'OK, now how do we deal with this?' I love seeing that juxtaposition of the lack of planning, the lack of resources and just being like: How do I make a way out of no way?"

Also? We think Brown might be a fan of his new co-star.

"I love me some Shailene Woodley,' he says. "She just drops right into this world so beautifully, so seamlessly... She's fantastic. She's a dope-ass human being, too, and she just killed it."

We'd be remiss if we didn't ask about Jane, whose eleventh-hour shooting of Sinatra in the Season 1 finale allowed Xavier to make his run for Air Force One. "First of all, let me shout out Nicole Brydon Bloom for an outstanding performance," Sterling K. Brown says, noting that he's seen the character of Jane receiving more fan ire than any other character — including the series' current villain, Julianne Nicholson's Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond. "I think it's because Sinatra is sort of transparent in her bids for power and being on top, where Jane is duplicitous," he continues. "And that sort of drives people nuts — and I love it!" He adds that we'll get a good look at Jane's backstory in Episode 6.

Are you looking forward to the new season of "Paradise"? Hit the comments, and let us know!