Paradise Season 2 just got a hopeful update, and it looks like audiences won't have to wait too long to see new episodes.
The seasonal breaks between shows have been a notable point of contention amongst audiences in the world of Television. Severance fans had to wait three years for Season 2 of the hit Apple TV+ show, while Invincible fans had to wait two—and a little more since Amazon Studios split the season's release up.
Thankfully, it doesn't look like Paradise will be subject to that same long wait, and the studio seems to clearly be confident with the show's success.
The Direct's Russ Milheim spoke with Paradise writer Nadra Widatalla, who confirmed that the Season 2 writers' room is "towards the end of" the scripting process, a sign that production will be gearing up sooner rather than later.
Paradise Season 2 Development, Release Wait Updates
The Progress of the Writer's Room Is Promising
- The Direct: "Now when it comes to Paradise, the show does have a Season 2 in the works. Have you guys started the writing process on that yet? Do you know when things might be getting back up for that cameras-wise?"
Nadra Widatalla: Season 2 was announced not too long ago. We're so excited, and I'm currently on lunch break in the writers room right now. So, you know, and it's funny, because I posted something on Tiktok the other day, and people are like, stop posting a Tiktok. Get back in the room. Like, we need 10 seasons now, you know, which is, like, really, really exciting. The energy in the room is just, it's pulsating. We're pumped.
- The Direct: Do you think we will have to wait long for it? Are you guys hoping to get a pretty good turnaround going? I mean, people are so bummed out about the big examples, like 'Severance,' had that three-year wait, and they're like, let's just.
Nadra Widatalla: I'm hoping that's not it. The fact that the writers room is already underway, like it's, you know, or towards the end of it is, it should paint a picture for you that this is coming sooner than that.
The Season 1 finale of Paradise saw Sterling K. Brown's Xavier not only figure out who Cal's true killer is (something that fans had plenty of theories about), but also charge into the post-apocalyptic outside world, in his own plane, to find his wife.
- The Direct: "I have an obvious question, but I don't know if you'll actually be able to answer it. But can you confirm at the very least that in Season 2, we will definitely be spending more time outside in this post-apocalyptic landscape?"
Nadra Widatalla: I can at least say that. Dan has said that already. So, and he, you know, we see [Xavier] fly a plane out.
- The Direct: "I know it's obvious, but hearing it makes me excited."
Nadra Widatalla: Those are the new questions that people are asking, right? Is Terry alive? If so, how has she survived? If not, like what? You know? Why isn't she alive? What is the world out like there? I think those are one of the biggest questions people are asking, and in true Fogelman style, we're going to answer them, you know, in due time.
- The Direct: "Dan Fogelman teased that the next season, basically, each season is going to be very different than the previous one. Can you offer any vague teases about what that might mean for Season 2?"
Nadra Widatalla: Probably not beyond what he said. But I what I can say is that it's not what you expect. To be ready to for the show to get bigger.
- The Direct: "I want to push my luck a little bit. Billy and Cal were such big characters in this series, but they're both dead. Are you guys looking for ways to still kind of make sure that their presence is felt within the future story, whether that be in a theoretical flashback or just in their heavy implication within how they their their lives affected the characters?"
Nadra Widatalla: Yeah, I think it's all up for grabs. This is where, like, Dan's style really shines here. But the flashbacks, like, you know, Cal was dead all of Season 1 and he's such a big part of the season. So I feel like, you know, if there's anyone who's able to pull that off it's Dan, and so I'm hopeful that we'll get to see some of these people.
Crafting the Post Apocalyptic World of Paradise
"Dan [Fogelman] Wanted It to Be Something That Is Plausible."
In Paradise, the world suffered a catastrophic apocalyptic event where a super volcano erupted under the anarctic ice sheets, which triggered a catastrophic tsunami that basically wiped out the world.
Needless to say, things only got worse from there.
- The Direct: "Now, obviously, the show is set up in a post-apocalyptic world. Terrible things have happened outside. When you guys are crafting that world, what was the process of just finalizing the details of how the apocalypse went down, and also maybe, like the process of holding back, okay, what do we want to reveal, and what do we want to save maybe for future revelations, as it were?"
Nadra Widatalla: Well, obviously, Episode 7 did a really like, one of the greatest episodes of all time, in my opinion, did a really great job of taking you through that day, what that apocalyptic event is. And a lot of research went into that.
From the beginning, I know that Dan wanted it to be something that is plausible. It could happen, but not something that is so extremely terrifying, or that's happening right now in our present day, you know, like nuclear war, or just something that, you know, would be just even more traumatizing for people. I think a super volcano is plausible enough, but isn't close enough to where people would leave completely traumatized.
And it left a lot for us to play with, because super volcano was just start of a series of things that would lead to the end of the world. Because when you mix man with nature, you get disaster in that case. So, a lot of research went into that...
Stephen Markley, who's like a really great author, wrote a book called 'The Deluge' that Dan had read before the Writer's Room started, and is like a 900 page like epic on climate change and climate disaster. A lot of what's in the ethos of the show has been was pulled from some of the things in that book.
We've talked to sociologists, to climate experts, whatever it may be in crafting, what this world and what this event could lead us to. So there were weeks, I would even say, months, of just like blue skying in the room about just that, that you asked.
Paradise is now streaming on Hulu.
