The following article contains spoilers for Paradise.Hulu’s political thriller and dystopian sci-fi mashup just concluded its first season a few days ago. In just eight episodes, Paradise, starring Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson and James Marsden, delivers a nail-biting thriller that starts when the President of the United States (Marsden) is found dead in a pool of blood. What follows is a gripping mystery where everybody is a murder suspect. Even the unassuming Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) is revealed early on to be a sociopath capable of murder.
Brown spoke to TVLine about fans’ doubts after the Paradise Season 1 finale aired. Season 1 concluded when the President’s killer was revealed, and Xavier Collins (Brown) stepped outside the domed settlement to look for his wife. Everybody wondered if Collins simply decided to leave his children in the settlement, knowing that Jane was still on the loose. In fact, the actor was asked if Collins knows that Jane is a cold-blooded killer, and this was his answer:

“No, he doesn’t. I mean, he decided to leave his children behind. Robinson [Collins’ ally] said, ‘Look, I’ve got you, don’t even worry about it.’ He has nothing but trust for Jane. So the idea that there’s somebody left behind who was so instrumental in causing destruction in his world, by killing Billy, by following Sinatra’s orders? She’s a loose cannon.”

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In the season finale, everyone expected Jane to kill Collins’ daughter Presley, per Sinatra’s orders. When Collins realizes that Sinatra may have ordered this, he decides to shoot her, but Jane surprisingly appears and shoots her first. She tells Collins that Presley is okay, and as Collins leaves, she tells Sinatra that she should have just given her the Wii (Jane and Billy are Secret Service agents who used to sneak up into the White House, turn off the cameras, and play Wii all night). Brown also spoke to TVLine about the Wii obsession:

“The chick is crazy about f*cking Wii! I have no idea. And you know what’s funny? I’ll be perfectly honest with you. There’s one question I had for Dan [Fogelman, showrunner]. I was like, ‘Does this character play, bro? Like, will people be on board?'”

He’s like, ‘She is the one thing that operates outside of Sinatra’s control, that is unpredictable, and so having that presence be in the bunker leads to a natural tension that I think will serve us.'”

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Showrunner Dan Fogelman spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Jane as well. He didn’t shed any light on her need to get the President’s Wii, and instead teased that viewers would have to wait until Season 2 for more answers: “Is this a psychopath or sociopath? Did she have loyalty to Xavier? These are all questions that will be serviced as we move forward with Jane, who is this young woman who presents as this All-American gal and is possibly the most dangerous person down there.”
Fogelman also answered the important question of why Jane didn’t hurt Collins’ kids, considering she had previously shown loyalty to Sinatra and even killed her lover with poison. The showrunner did not clear up the mystery and instead said that it could be part of Jane’s master plan:

“That’s the next question that comes, right? Is she playing chess while everybody else is playing checkers? Or is she just out of her gourd and she didn’t want to kill a teenage girl, and she preferred to get a little bit of vengeance on Sinatra? Either version presents Jane as somebody who has now made a couple of beds and created a couple of exit ramps for herself. She ostensibly saved Sinatra from Xavier, who was about to blow her brains out, by gravely, but safely wounding her.

She also hasn’t distanced herself or blown her cover with Xavier and the rest of the Secret Service agents. In some ways, Jane is sitting prettiest right now because she could make the argument that she’s on everybody’s side as opposed to having picked a lane. That’s probably the clearest answer of why she might not have killed Presley.”

Source: TVLine / Entertainment Weekly

Paradise

4.5
/5

Release Date

January 26, 2025

Network

Hulu

Directors

Gandja Monteiro

Writers

Jason Wilborn