[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Paradise.]

Summary

In the Hulu series ‘Paradise,’ the murder of the President uncovers hidden secrets among high-profile residents.

Over eight episodes, the series digs into complex relationships amidst investigation, setting up season finale twists.

Sarah Shahi discussed character development for Dr. Gabriela Torabi, surreal moments, and the brilliance of showrunner Dan Fogelman.

Created by Dan Fogelman (This Is Us), the Hulu original series Paradise is set in an almost idyllic community. But when Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) finds President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) dead on his bedroom floor, it triggers an investigation with the highest of stakes. Searching for answers and uncovering clues along the way is a threat to their carefully crafted existence, and when you threaten those in powerful positions things can quickly spiral, but Xavier is driven to find out what happened, even if it turns his own world upside down.
During his quest to find out the truth, Xavier turned to Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), who was able to provide some insight into the inner workings of Paradise, but when that still wasn’t enough, he kept digging. At the same time, Gabriela has started to wonder whether she should be looking deeper at Samantha Redmond, aka Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), who she truly believed to be her friend.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Shahi talked about just how much she likes to know about where the story is headed, wanting to feel a connection to the characters she plays, how this is a series full of people with secrets, who Gabriela was before Paradise existed, the Gabriela and Sinatra dynamic, getting to play with Brown, shooting the shower scene, and her reaction to the events of the finale.
Sarah Shahi Doesn’t Always Have To Have Answers, but Wanted To Know Everything About ‘Paradise’

“It was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.”

Collider: When this came your way, did you know from the beginning what the twist would be?
SARAH SHAHI: Yes. When I first joined the show, I got the first four episodes, so I was aware of where the story was going up until that point. And then, any time a script was ready, they would send it out. They sent out episodes five and six, and then seven and eight. It’s one of those things where, depending on the character or my mood, sometimes I like to know more. Other times, I only wanna know exactly what my character knows. With this one, the scripts were just so damn good. Even as the actor reading it, at the end of episode one, my mind was blown and I had to read episode two. At the end of two, I just hungered for more. With this one, I read everything. It was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. It helped me know exactly where things fit into the bigger picture. So, that’s not always what I do, but that is what I did on this one.
As viewers, we’re given time to get to know these characters and learn about their flaws, making the bigger concept of this world almost secondary for a good chunk of it. Was it important to you that this series really does focus on the characters as much as possible and that it doesn’t get lost in this in these bigger ideas?
SHAHI: Absolutely. The things that I’m attracted to when I take a job all comes from a character perspective. I have to recognize a piece of myself. I have to feel something. It’s almost like a spiritual thing that has to happen to me before I sign on for something. And I only receive that when things are very character-driven and the plot comes through the characters, as opposed to the other way around.
I love a cool concept, but if there aren’t characters in that world to back it up, the cool concept gets really boring.
SHAHI: Yeah, if you don’t have that built-in love for the characters to watch them go through their transitions, then you just don’t care.

Related

‘Paradise’ Review: Sterling K. Brown Stuns in ‘This Is Us’ Creator’s Sleek, Timely Political Thriller

Political conspiracies, lies, and the human heart collide in Brown and Dan Fogelman’s reunion effort.

How did you view your character? How does she see herself, compared to how everyone else in the community sees her?
SHAHI: Pretty much almost every character on the show is not who they present to be. Everyone’s got secrets. There are many skeletons in their closets. At first, when I signed onto this and before we really started getting rolling in the character, I was expecting Gabriela to be one of those. I was looking for the scene where Gabriela kills Sinatra and takes over. Everybody else has a pretense going on, but he’s the one person that is presenting who she is. She is this very hopeful, very optimistic person in this dark world. She’s this light who’s the person trying to unify everyone. She tells both Xavier and Sinatra “You’re both family people. You both want the same thing. Work this out.” She’s trying to unify. It’s interesting to play someone who has a softness about them in this very tough world.
Do you think she’s someone who was always that hopeful and optimistic, or was it the end of the world that provided her with a way she couldn’t have been before?
SHAHI: I think it happened before that. I don’t think she was always like that. We got a little hint of her backstory when she says that both of her parents had died and she learned how to play cards through her dad. Through her life circumstances, and maybe at one point after both parents were gone, she felt completely hopeless, and going into therapy and becoming a therapist was survival for her. So, I don’t think she was always like that, but I do think she was like that way before Paradise was invented.
Sarah Shahi Loves Getting To Explore the Dynamic Between ‘Paradise’s Gabriela and Sinatra

“What you see is almost a codependency.”

Image via Hulu

There’s such an interesting contrast between your character and Julianne Nicholson’s character. Both of these women had a hand in creating this world, but we’re supposed to see her as the villain from the start while your character is definitely more sympathetic. How do you see their dynamic? What was it like to figure their relationship out?
SHAHI: Their relationship is one that I actually really love, and it’s been really beautiful to hear feedback about how well that comes across. It’s rare that you get to have two females on screen where the dynamic is not of competition or trying to manipulate the other person or bring them down. What you see is almost a codependency between the two of them. They need the other person. There’s a lot of admiration there. They’re very different people. The lenses in which they look through are very different, but at the same time, there’s so much humanity that Gabriela sees in Sinatra, and Sinatra trusts Gabriela so much that she allows herself to be vulnerable. She’s the only person who can see Sinatra in that way that it’s almost like there’s this dependency they have with one another. There’s such a strong mutual respect, I feel, between the two women. They’re both women in incredible positions of power, and it’s interesting how they help each other foster their power, as opposed to tearing it down from the other.

Related

‘Paradise’s Latest Episode May Have Made Sinatra’s Master Plan Even More Sinister Than We Realized

“You think you’re the only person here who knows how to shoot a gun?”

Sinatra is the figure that makes people scared, whereas your character feels like the one holding the scared people’s hands behind the scenes.
SHAHI: Yes, exactly. You’re absolutely right. Everyone fears her, and I’m the one that’s taking care of the people who fear her. There’s so much there. Just wait until episode eight.
We really get to know your character better through the time we see her spend with Sterling K. Brown’s character. What was it like to find that with him and to do those scenes together?
SHAHI: Sterling is such a giving and present actor. He locks in when he’s in a scene, and the only thing that exists is that moment. You don’t see the cameras, you don’t see the set, you don’t see the boom operator, you don’t see anyone but him. That’s why you become an actor. When you are fortunate enough to work with someone like him, then everything just becomes play. It almost becomes like a free fall. A line comes out differently, and then you don’t know what shape it’s gonna take, and it can take a different shape with each take. It’s a real treat to be able to share the screen with him. He’s somebody that I admired long before I got this opportunity. When I auditioned, I had to do a chemistry read with him, on the day that he got his Oscar nomination. I was just pinching myself for the moment that I found myself in. I was very lucky.

Related

“It’s Somebody We’ve Met”: Sterling K. Brown Says “You Will Find Out Who Killed the President” in the ‘Paradise’ Finale

Brown also says, “The first three episodes of [Season 2] slap.”

What are the most challenging aspects of having to shoot a shower scene while also doing dialogue? Was it hard to figure out how to play that reveal, where she’s giving him a message from the president, but it’s also supposed to be a sexy scene and you’re underwater?
SHAHI: I had a no nudity clause. I was like, “I’m not showing anything this time.” There was a lot to juggle. It was a shower scene. It’s very easy to play into the sex, but at the same time, there was this important information that needed to be delivered that was not at all about sex. So, how do we charge the scene enough to where it’s sexy, but then also take the moments needed to slow it down and to get those other heavier drama bits in there? Sterling is such a brilliant sparring partner. We rehearsed the scene with an intimacy coordinator and discussed how the clothes were coming off. The moment when I go down, you think I’m going down for one thing, but I’m actually looking for a wire, and the urgency picks up as I’m looking for a wire. I think the audience appreciates a tease, so we definitely built some of that in there. When Gabriela says, “I have a message from the President,” it’s a mic drop moment in that episode, for sure. It gets everybody’s attention. (Creator) Dan [Fogelman] is so brilliant with that, where he’ll take you down a path and you think you know where you’re going. You’re like, “Oh, I’ve figured this out.” And then, he just makes a hard left and you just feel like you have no idea what’s happening. I also thought the music choice for that scene was brilliant. There’s just so much that he does right.
Sarah Shahi Appreciates the ‘Paradise’ Finale’s Killer Reveal

“You just can’t wait for another season.”

Image via Hulu

What was your reaction to reading the finale script? What did you think about where everything gets left?
SHAHI: The thing that I enjoyed about the finale is that you do find out who the killer is. That itch gets scratched. The problem is, you’ve now got more itches. That’s a weird metaphor, I know. Dan does such a brilliant job of setting up other things. While he satiates the audience’s appetite in one respect, he’s also setting up all this other stuff, to where you just can’t wait for another season.

Paradise

Release Date

January 26, 2025

Network

Hulu

Directors

Gandja Monteiro

Writers

Jason Wilborn

Paradise is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the trailer: