Sterling K. Brown in the 'Paradise' season two finale. Disney/Ser Baffo Logo text [This story contains major spoilers from the Paradise season two finale, “Exodus.”]
Sterling K. Brown wants to assure you that Paradise is going to make good on its promise. “Everyone will get their answers by the time season three is done,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter after the season two finale.
The actor who stars as Xavier Collins — the former secret service agent to the president who is now the Hulu hit show’s version of a superhero — is able to make that promise because he’s also an executive producer. He was there at the beginning to hear creator Dan Fogelman’s three-season vision for the survival drama, and he’s been in the room as the writers have been plotting how season three will end.
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After the season two finale raised major questions about if “Alex” — who was finally revealed to be a quantum computer that can perhaps play with time — can help Xavier save the world, now that Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) sacrificed herself and died by going down with the Paradise bunker, Brown wants viewers to think about even bigger questions.
“These things that feel like coincidences” — like Sinatra believing that Dylan (Thomas Doherty) is her son, who died as a child, and is evidence that Alex works — “you then begin to question: Are they coincidences or is there something at work, like a greater power, another thing that is bringing folks together? There’s this recurring dream that both Link/Dylan and Xavier have where they sort of have, seen each other. That could be passed off as, ‘Oh, well, Annie [Shailene Woodley] gave me his ID card, so maybe that’s why his face is showing up in my dreams.’ Or it could be, ‘Have we met before?'”
The second season played with the idea of alternate timelines with many of the characters experiencing those sort of memory flashes that often led to nose bleeds. One logical answer could be that they are experiencing effects from the nuclear blast that kicked off the series and nearly wiped out the planet, sending them underground to the survival bunker city. But Brown poses another option.
“What I like about the show is that it’s like our own little nod to The Matrix in terms of deja vu,” he says. “Like, is there a glitch in the Matrix? Has something actually happened before? Are we plugged into something and not even fully aware of it? It plays with all of those cinematic ideas that have come before us, with Fogelman getting a chance to put his own spin on it.”
Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra in her final moment with Sterling K. Brown as Xavier in the season two finale. She tasks him with going find Alex, who is in another bunker underneath the Denver airport. Disney/Ser Baffo He continues about his This Is Us and Paradise creator, “Fogelman will say blatantly that Lost was formidable in helping him conceive This Is Us and of Paradise. The way that the past affects and influences the present, and also then the future, is something we play around with in both shows. So all I can really say is that when Paradise is all done, it will all make sense.”
Fogelman and executive producer John Hoberg, who co-wrote the season two finale titled “Exodus,” have said that they are on track to carry out the creator’s original three-season vision, which means that the already renewed third season will conclude Paradise. Fogelman has always promised to satisfy fans by answering the biggest questions in each finale — and then posing new questions to answer with the next season. Heading into season three, the biggest concerns are about whether or not Xavier can save the Paradise world, and if Alex is a tool that will help or destroy that mission.
“What was most interesting about season two was Dan’s introduction of Alex, and what Alex entailed. You can’t help as a writer but respond to what’s going on in the world with all of our conversations about AI — friend or foe, or both, depending on who’s the programmer,” says Brown. “I think it’s his way of enfolding something into the fabric of the show that fits organically, but that’s also topical to what people are concerned about.”
He continues, “It’s sort of a microcosm for how we’re thinking about AI right now. There’s such a tremendous upside for artificial intelligence to make life easier for so many people, but does it mean that we are replacing ourselves or are we finding something that we can work in conjunction with? So when I finally found out the totality of it — and I saw the set built — you go and see Alex for the first time and you’re like, ‘Oh, shit, this is gonna hit!’ So there’s full excitement and weariness because I share the current public’s perspective on AI, which is that I don’t know what to think.”
One thing Brown is sure about, however, is Xavier’s potential for what may be his final Paradise task.
“Link is of the perspective that Alex is dangerous. And Sinatra is of the perspective that only Alex can restore the world to a place that feels familiar to everyone. So if anybody could save the world, it would be Xavier,” he says. “And I say that because of the way the character has been set up. He’s someone who always tries to do the right thing. That card says X on it for a reason. If anybody could do it, it would be Xavier.”
Paradise is now streaming all episodes of seasons one and two on Hulu. Read THR‘s finale postmortems with John Hoberg, as well as with Julianne Nicholson and Thomas Doherty.
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