Paradise Season 2's Shocking Episode 4 Death Almost Didn't Happen

Episode 4 of Paradise's Season 2 delivered a shocking twist to audiences as it unexpectedly killed off Shailene Woodley's Annie in Xavier's (Sterling K. Brown) arms as she gave birth to her baby. With the first episode of the season focusing entirely on Annie, fans were convinced that she'd become a mainstay of the series—though, clearly, the writers had different plans. Oddly enough, however, Annie wasn't always destined to die.

The Direct spoke with Paradise executive producer John Hoberg, who revealed that Annie almost lived longer and could have become a staple of the show.

"The intention wasn't necessarily to kill her off at that point, to have her die," Hoberg revealed. The producer added that "there was a lot of discussion earlier where Annie was around, and she didn't die."

However, "there was this realization that [they] really needed to take something from [Xavier]," to really "make him feel what a destroyed family feels like" just as "he's trying to make his family whole."

"So there was a method behind it, versus we just want to hurt you," Hoberg assured us. He also noted that their shocking choice to kill off Annie was just as surprising to them as when they decided to kill off Billy in the first season. Sadly, given her irrelevance to any story before the apocalypse, unlike other characters, her return for potential flashbacks seems pretty unlikely.

More of the interview can be read below, and make sure to keep tuned to The Direct to see more coverage from our conversation as Season 2 of Paradise airs. The show is now streaming on Hulu.

Annie Could Have Lived Longer In Paradise, But Her Death Felt Like the Right Move

"The Intention Wasn't Necessarily to Kill Her Off at That Point..."

• The Direct: "Annie's death in Episode 4 is very tragic. What were the discussions there? You hired such a big, you know, big name. She's such a great character. You took a big swing with the opening of Season 2 in not having anyone we knew, and it focused entirely on her. To me, that indicates, oh, this is going to be a big character. And I'm sure that was the intention. And then Episode 4 comes, and bam."

John Hoberg: Well, I'll say the intention wasn't necessarily to kill her off at that point, to have her die. What we really wanted in that first episode was for you to experience what it was like from someone you cared about, from their point of view, going through this whole thing.

And then we got to Xavier. And then that second episode, we're really seeing Xavier, and now he's experiencing that the rules of the game are very different than what he expected. And we actually put him through this moment of, he was in the bad part, that one section was like, it's getting better and better, but this is a very bad place. So he kind of saw this ugly side of humanity and the new rules. And they're not everything you think.

 And then obviously you get together with Annie, and they start to bond, and they come together. And so the key thing, from our point of view, is Xavier is our lead. He's our guy. And I've always thought of this show like a Western, weirdly, where it's like, this is a single-minded character who has their own set of values and beliefs and a moral compass and a moral code, and our job as writers is to test that thing over and over and over, and is he going to crack? And how is he going to hold up?

And so for the moment, with Annie, there was this realization that we really needed to take something from him, that he cared about, and while he's trying to make his family whole, make him feel what a destroyed family feels like, and it only redoubles his efforts, but also gives him this holy charge that he's got to take care of. And a lot of that, too, is like the whole thing with Annie; she's slightly agoraphobic, and she doesn't trust people. And even in that episode, she is saying you can't trust people. And Xavier, almost in a dad way, is like, yeah, you can. And she's like, 'Don't say anything to those people riding by on wagons.' And he says, 'Hello' anyway.

I think he's trying to pass on to her his belief system, which is that people are good on the inside. But then we had to test that, because it's one thing to just say that and say hello to someone, and you know, and it's another thing when you're in an incredibly vulnerable moment to then have to go and ask for help, because that's what we ended up doing to him.

So it was really about that and about him kind of having to prove to her that you can believe in people, which allows her to kind of pass her baby on, but also lets him see like, oh my god, I want my family whole, and I've just watched what the loss of family members, how awful it is. Yeah. So there was a method behind it, versus we just want to hurt you. And there was a lot of discussion earlier where Annie was around, and she didn't die, and it just started to feel like that's kind of what the story needed.

• The Direct: "Well, you just answered my next question. I was going to pose the examples of, you always hear these stories about how there are these big characters that they were originally going to be killed off, right? The biggest examples are Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad and Steve Harrington from Stranger Things. And so I was going to ask if she was ever in contention to live a little longer in this apocalypse. But I guess she was."

Hoberg: She was, and, you know, even the first season, that was a surprise to all of us when we decided to kill off Billy. It was like, oh shit. But once again, Xavier needed to feel the loss. We were big believers in [Dan] Fogelman. Working with him is incredible because he is 100% true to character. And so that means, if this is what a character needs to go through, they're going to go through it, which is tough.