Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for the Paradise finale.
After several weeks of big twists and turns, the Paradise finale still had plenty of surprises left in store for viewers. Not only did the Dan Fogelman Hulu series drop a major reveal in the form of who really killed President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) — and star Sterling K. Brown was right when he said this person was under our noses the whole time! — but not every character makes it out of the episode in one piece. You wouldn’t have been wrong in thinking that the big confrontation between Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins (Brown) and Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) would eventually come to a violent head, but you might not have expected someone other than Collins to pull the trigger on Paradise’s chief shot-caller. Then again, we didn’t see Agent Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) coming the first time around, but as the finale reveals, Sinatra did survive their encounter — and Jane actually made out with the President’s Wii, just like she wanted.
Ahead of the Paradise finale dropping, Collider had the opportunity to catch up with several cast members to break down the biggest moments of the episode, including Bloom. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actress behind the terrifying and duplicitous Jane Driscoll discusses her road to joining Paradise (and why she was worried, after her role in The Gilded Age Season 2, that she might not be cast), whether Jane’s feelings for Agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers) were ever genuine, why Jane is so darn fixated on getting her hands on Cal’s Wii, whether we’ll get a Jane flashback episode now that Paradise has been renewed for a second season, and more.
COLLIDER: When did you find out what the big twist at the end of the first episode actually was?
NICOLE BRYDON BLOOM: I didn’t know in the first audition. When I initially got the sides, it was just the audition scenes. It must have been for the screen test [that] we were finally looped in and maybe read the pilot then, so I knew about the twist, and it was crazy. As you saw, they really marketed the show in one direction and then allowed it to pivot in a completely different direction along with everyone watching it. So, it was wild to know that twist and not be able to really discuss it. When people would ask me what the show was about, I was too scared to answer because I didn’t want to say anything wrong. But I think it’s really struck a chord with people from that first episode on, certainly after Episode 7. It’s been such a fun show to be a part of and such an interesting story to tell.
Nicole Brydon Bloom Wasn’t Sure Whether She’d Be Cast in ‘Paradise’

Image via Hulu

After watching The Gilded Age, I should have been more suspicious of you [in Paradise] from the beginning because of the history that you have of playing characters that initially present one way before more is uncovered about what their intentions really are. That said, Jane’s complete heel-turn is still such a shock. How much did you know about that storyline in advance after you were cast?
BLOOM: Initially, I did not know. When I got the breakdown, it was really straightforward: Jane looks up to Xavier, and she’s one of the newest recruits. In my initial callbacks and Zooms with Dan [Fogelman] and some of the team, they did reveal that there would be more to Jane. To your point, I didn’t know if I would get the part because I was like, “Oh shoot, I sort of just did a turn like this.” Very different characters and a very different world, but I didn’t know if that would make them reticent to cast me just because people might suspect it. I did another show with Hulu, We Were the Lucky Ones, and I was just getting comments on it, like, “Watch out for her. She’s lying,” and I was like, “Oh no! This character, Caroline, is actually really sweet, and that’s just who she is.” So, I didn’t know if that would be a concern.
But I found out about the Billy twist right before my screen test because, initially, there was more dialogue around that scene, so we did that scene as one of the auditions, and I was sad. Billy is so likable. I was like, “Oh no, people are gonna hate Jane.” But I think it makes it more interesting to play characters like that. Not that Jane wasn’t great before the twist, but it definitely adds some weird, fun layers to play with.

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We Should’ve Known This ‘Paradise’ Character Couldn’t Be Trusted

They were right under our noses this whole time.

I asked Jon [Beavers] about this, and I wanted to get your thoughts on this, as well, about the Billy/Jane relationship. Was there a part of her that did have some degree of feeling for him, or was it more about cozying up for a bigger purpose?
BLOOM: That’s a good question. I played around with when I thought Sinatra involved herself because there’s a version where Jane and Billy just happened to start dating, and it was truly a secret — not a very good secret; they were pretty obvious. But I think when Jane gets her orders, she follows through on them. So, is she capable of love and genuinely caring for someone? I don’t know, but I think she did enjoy Billy. I think there was something there. It’s just that the switch slips when she’s told to do something. So, kind of heartless murder there at the end of Episode 4. I got a lot of texts from people being like, “I’m now very scared of you.” I’m like, “Honestly, same!”
You touched on what was initially communicated to you about the character, and her mentor-mentee relationship with Xavier. This season, we see how she’s viewed as a trusted adult because of the position that she puts herself in with Presley. Does Jane want a real connection with this family, even if she has to manipulate that connection for a greater mission?
BLOOM: Yeah. I think it goes back to the question of how capable she is of real emotion. Something that was interesting that I didn’t even really notice when we were filming is that Jane is the only one who doesn’t have a family down there and doesn’t have other friends or real friendships aside from Billy. So, no matter what kind of person you are, I do think you crave that on some level. In Episode 8, she does make a decision to side with Xavier, whether that’s for her own selfish reasons or a combination of wanting to protect Presley. It’s a good question, though. I think somewhere internally, she is a human being and does have the desire for love and connection, but whatever she’s gone through in her past has sort of redirected her, and she’s very black and white. It would be really fun to explore what did happen to Jane and what led her to this place. Why was she selected for Paradise?
Nicole Brydon Bloom Explains Why Jane Pulled the Trigger on Sinatra in the ‘Paradise’ Finale

Image via Hulu

One of the finale’s biggest moments happens between Jane and Sinatra. Sinatra’s still on the board, and that closing scene of the hospital feels like proof that she’s still kicking, but it’s interesting to watch that scene between them, with Jane getting in those parting words. It feels like she’s taking advantage of the fact that Sinatra can’t say anything back. What do you think causes Jane to go rogue in that moment? Is she realizing that Sinatra is a less valuable ally now compared to Xavier?
BLOOM: I think there are two components at play. There’s a phone call that happens earlier in the episode, where Sinatra calls Jane crazy. When I spoke to the writers, we talked about that. She’s been such a loyal servant to Sinatra and done all her bidding, and then for her to turn around and use that word, it feels like it’s some sort of trigger for Jane. But yeah, the power shift is pretty evident throughout the last episode, and it’s very possible that Jane realized she’s been following orders, she’s been doing what she thought was perhaps right, and then now being faced with Presley — who, back to your earlier question, I do think she cares about on some level — she was just like, “Okay, you’re now a problem for me, and I am going to take over. I’m going to make sure that you don’t say anything to compromise my position with Xavier.”
I feel like people are going to discuss the Wii of it all. It’s something that was initially part of trying to establish the timeline for Cal’s murder, but it comes back into play in this episode. How did you try to justify Jane’s compartmentalized fixation on getting this Wii amid everything else that’s going on?
BLOOM: That’s the part that made me feel like Jane is struggling with something in the vein of being either psychopathic or sociopathic, where she’s just kind of obsessive and compartmentalizes all of the quote-unquote evil that she does. For someone to be that fixated on something like that is wild. I was rewatching the episode last night. I hadn’t seen any of that footage, and I remember John [Requa] and Glenn [Ficarra], our directors, who are incredible — when we were filming that, one of them walked by at one point, and they’re like, “Ooh, that is scary.” And I was like, “Is it?” Then I watched it, and I was like, “Oh god, Jane is crazy. She is crazy!” I scared myself a little bit there. In terms of what motivates her, it’s a very childlike desire and fixation. I imagine, on some level, Jane’s sort of stuck in a younger version of herself.
With the big reveal of Cal’s murderer comes the revelation that people have snuck into the bunker, replacing other people and living under different identities. Did you ever start to think, “Is Jane really who she says she is?” Could she have completely different origins than she’s letting on? Is that something that you’ve ever tried to consider in your own head, or asked Dan about to try to get details on?
BLOOM: I have definitely been trying to get answers from Dan, and he and his writers are very tight-lipped, so they haven’t said anything. But I do think we’ll learn a little bit more about Jane in the second season, which will be exciting for me, too. I had a lot of conversations with Dan about her in Season 1, just wondering what some of her motivations were, and so that was definitely very helpful. I don’t know that she’s not who she says she is, although anything is possible in this world that he’s created. But I would love to know why she was selected to be down there. Clearly, she’s very good at what she does, which is fooling some of the most intelligent people that they brought down into the bunker. So, I am wondering how Sinatra found her and why she became her number one secret person in operations.
All episodes of Paradise are now available to stream on Hulu.

Paradise

Release Date

January 26, 2025

Network

Hulu

Directors

Gandja Monteiro

Writers

Jason Wilborn