The first season of Paradise took the TV world by storm with its twisty post-apocalyptic murder mystery. While the assassination of President Cal Bradford drove the story, it was always more about the bigger secrets surrounding the doomsday event — and what was really happening outside of their underground “paradise.” As Season 2 premieres on the 2026 TV schedule, we're about to find that out for ourselves. Critics have seen 7 of the 8 episodes, and they’re mostly in for more fun in (and out of) the bunker.
Last we saw Sterling K. Brown’s Xavier Collins, he was headed to the Earth’s surface in search of his wife, after Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) revealed there were survivors, and Teri was one of them. What will Xavier encounter outside of the bunker? Even more worrisome, what chaos will unfold inside of it? According to Cheryl Eddy of Gizmodo, Paradise Season 2 succeeds in following multiple characters (complete with flashbacks, of course) to bring us even more tension and thrills this time around. The critic writes:
Paradise manages to successfully juggle all these threads because each character has a very clear destination, a very clear motivation, or often both. We don’t always know what’s driving them at first, but they do, and that helps the pieces of the narrative slot into place. Even the most slippery characters have an inner code—which is not always a moral code, mind you—that they remain loyal to above everything else.
Jonathan Wilson of Ready Steady Cut says the expanded scope of Season 2 plays to Dan Fogelman’s strength in weaving emotional storylines together This Is Us-style. It isn’t perfect, Wilson says, but the pluses outweigh the minuses for an overall “immensely satisfying” sophomore effort. The critic rates the season 4 out of 5 stars, writing:
For the most part, Fogelman handles the scope of Paradise Season 2 – which, if you include the flashbacks, spans across the entirety of the U.S., multiple viewpoints, and tens of years – very well. It isn’t always plain sailing, since a natural consequence of the format is certain characters being sidelined, subplots being neglected, and the focus ever-shifting. But virtually every episode has at least one moment – sometimes several – of such real profundity that it’s difficult to mind.
Belen Edwards of Mashable notes how expanding the world beyond the Colorado bunker also leaves us without a strong “Who killed the president?”-esque mystery to center the drama, but that’s not Fogelman's only big Season 2 swing. The premiere episode focuses almost solely on a survivor we’ve never met before — Annie, as Shailene Woodley joins the Paradise cast — and surprises like that continue throughout. Critics don’t know how it ends, but this one has certainly enjoyed the ride either way. Edwards says:
If Fogelman is heading where I think he's heading, then Paradise is setting itself up for a sci-fi twist that could be even wilder than the show's episode 1 bunker reveal. That reveal sprung almost out of nowhere in Paradise's first installment, whereas Season 2 is spending many episodes teasing out its big revelation, sometimes to the point of infuriation. Jury's still out on whether Season 2 will stick the landing on that front. After all, Season 1's best twist was almost entirely due to the surprise factor. But even if the twist ends up not hitting, so much of Paradise Season 2 still does.
For other critics, the ride alone may not be enough, as Angie Han on THR argues that bigger isn’t necessarily better in Paradise’s case. The series has always been more heart than head, Han says, and there’s definitely enough good in Season 2 to make you not want to sweat the small stuff. However, the inconsistencies, plot holes and dead-end narratives accumulate to eat away at the series’ already-shaky structure. The critic continues:
Moment to moment, Paradise remains an engrossing experience, thanks in large part to the charm of its cast. But the plot makes less and less sense upon further reflection. Meanwhile, the overreliance on flashbacks to fill in character motivations and goals stalls the momentum, so that it starts to seem that Paradise is a collection of backstories loosely connected by a shared present, rather than an ongoing thriller enhanced by deeper context.
Clint Worthington of RogerEbert says Paradise loses the novelty that drew us to it in the first place, as Xavier splits off into his own storyline. The political intrigue and unsettling veneer of normalcy inside Sinatra’s “Paradise” are gone, and while “a few pulpy delights” still exist, according to Worthington, it’s all a bit too slow-moving for his taste. The critic says:
Despite (or because) of those Fogelmanian quirks, the first season of Paradise carried a kind of batshit, silly charm, culminating in an exciting end to the season that teed up a bunch of interesting ‘what next?’ questions for many of our characters. But such stakes need to be paid off satisfyingly, and Paradise‘s sophomore season strays from what made its initial go so appealing, lurching unfortunately into the same old, same old survivalist-porn trappings, now marred by the overwrought Fogelman melodrama. ‘This Is (The Last Of) Us.’
While the reviews are a little mixed, the critics all seem to agree there’s plenty to like here — especially if you’re a fan of Dan Fogelman’s timeline-jumping, heartstring-pulling, gasp-worthy, twisty storytelling. However, when you open the door to the bunker, things are going to change, and when you add more characters, others could get lost.
How much that bothers you will likely determine how you feel about Paradise Season 2, but the 30 critics reporting to Rotten Tomatoes have brought it to a Certified Fresh 90%. The first three episodes are available to stream now with a Hulu subscription, with episodes coming weekly on Mondays thereafter.
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