Warning: this story contains spoilers from the first episode of Hulu’s Paradise.
Sterling K. Brown thought he knew what to expect when reuniting with This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman for Paradise, Hulu’s new political thriller. But even Brown was caught off guard by the television writer’s signature storyline twists.
In the new series, which dropped its debut episode early on Sunday, Jan. 26, Brown plays secret service agent and single father of two Xavier Collins, who becomes the leading suspect in the investigation of the shocking murder of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden).
The premiere episode follows Xavier as he discovers the president’s body and quietly starts to investigate the murder on his own before it’s revealed that Xavier, and the rest of his counterparts, are living in an highly controlled underground bunker. However, two mysteries remain: who killed President Bradford and how/why are those people there?
Brown, 48, was one of many who were shocked by the twist, telling PEOPLE that even he found the pilot’s ending to be unexpected, despite knowing how Fogelman, 48, often operates.
Disney/Ser Baffo
“I said, ‘You son of a gun. You did it again,'” Brown recalls saying to Fogelman. “Because I forgot who I was dealing with. I thought I was just looking at a political thriller and I’m trying to figure out who killed the president. And that was enough. I was totally satisfied.”
“And then I find out that this whole thing is taking place in this bunker that sunshine is not sunshine, that ducks aren’t mother-effing ducks,” he continues. “There’s something completely and totally different.”
Brown, who last worked with Fogelman on the hit NBC series This Is Us from 2016-2022 (which also had a pilot full of surprises), adds of the show creator: “The dude has a way. I look at the promos for the show and we show that Cal Bradford, we see Marsden, laying down on the floor with blood coming out his head. I was like, ‘Have we given away too much?’ [But] we haven’t given it away, anything — it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Prior to that moment, Brown says Fogelman had paid him the ultimate compliment by writing the script with him specifically in mind. “I’ve read 106 of his scripts up until I read pilot, and then that was 107. And it was just as flipping good as the 106 that I worked with on him on This Is Us,” he explains.
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More than playing the dramatic role, Brown was thrilled to reunite with his friend again.
“He’s a good person,” shares the American Fiction star of Fogelman. “We have, in this industry, talented people who are unkind. And I’ve been thankful, by and large, to not spend a lot of time with those people. The people that God has put in my path have been both of those things, and Dan is at the top of that list. And so I knew that it wasn’t just going to be a good show — I knew I was going to have a good time making that show.”
“If he was not him, it wouldn’t be the same,” Brown adds, noting that taking on the role of Xavier was also intriguing because it was shot in Los Angeles at a very familiar location: Paramount Studios, the same place where This Is Us was filmed.
“It’s pretty much all of my crew from This Is Us is on this show,” he explains. “The same hair and makeup department is there. It feels familiar and different at the same time.”
“It’s like the whole family went on this huge family vacation to Australia and … we’ve been looking at lions, and now we’re looking at a kangaroo,” Brown adds. “So we all get a chance to do it together. All those things combined together to make a sort of perfect reunion.”
Ron Batzdorff/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Brown is hopeful that fans will be inspired and “feel seen” as the show progresses.
“Even when it’s painful, I have in the back of my mind that somebody will see what this character is going through and they will recognize themselves inside of it … it gives me great joy to help people feel less alone,” he says.
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Paradise‘s first episode is now streaming on Hulu and the next two episodes are set to drop on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
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