Paradise’s Shailene Woodley teases “tender” new character dynamic for season 2

When Paradise's first season came to an end, fans were more than a little intrigued to see just what direction the dystopian series would take. From season 2's premiere episode, we venture to Graceland, the unlikely backdrop of Annie's solace in the midst of the natural disaster that has plunged the earth into the unknown.

While season 1 was very much concerned with the underground bunker of Paradise and the death of the President, now we're finally exploring what's been happening up above while the special chosen few have enjoyed a life of luxury.

In the wake of disaster, we also see how relationships blossom for initially curt duo Annie (Shailene Woodley) and Link (Thomas Doherty). What starts as Link and his pals crashing Annie's small and solitary circle of peace at Graceland turns into something a whole lot more for these two newcomers to the show.

Chatting exclusively to Radio Times about their character dynamic, Woodley revealed: "I think the core of what Annie and Link share is a tenderness, that’s rooted without any pretence. Neither of them had an agenda with the other person, which I think is quite rare when it comes to intimacy, these days at least."

Woodley continued: "What I found so refreshing is that they were two people that didn’t have a lot of lack, but who chose to come together, who chose to share a connection. They both had agency in it and I think that’s what allowed for them to be so vulnerable, so raw, so real and to fall in love as quickly as they were able to.

"It felt like a very pure sense of what love looks like, instead of an idea of love.”

Doherty also added: "I’d even go further and say they were actively trying not to be vulnerable, actively trying to protect. It was so pure and so beautiful that it almost permeated those boundaries and those walls. It felt really beautiful. It’s like, when you’re trying not to but you just can’t not."

As is the way of Paradise, we come to be introduced to these new characters through their own poignant stories and we can clearly see that Annie has gone through her own trials and tribulations in life, which has led to her almost thriving in solitude.

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Speaking about how life has continued to rattle on for her post-disaster, Woodley also said of Annie: "She wasn’t someone who, like many people in this way, obviously wasn’t expecting a disaster to hit and she didn’t know what was to come. I think her ability to survive came from an intrinsic will power but also, a comfort in solitude.

"I think she was someone who didn’t have a lot of control in her life, at least a control of the loss that she faced in her life, pre natural disaster.

"Once she found herself in Graceland, within the comforts of her little haven that she created and that she happened to be stuck in at the moment, I think she found a sense of control that kept her feeling her safe and kept her feeling secure. Even if it was a false sense of security, she felt secure. And that allowed her to really kind of lean on the hope of survival, the hope that can come with a tomorrow in a state of survival."

The series continues to follow Xavier (Sterling K Brown) as he embarks on a desperate search for his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) after learning at the end of season 1 that she was in fact alive, despite thinking she had died in the disaster. In his search for her, he comes to "learn how people survived the three years since The Day". The series synopsis continues: "Back in Paradise, the social fabric frays as the bunker deals with the aftermath of Season 1, and new secrets are uncovered about the city's origins."

The first three episodes of Paradise season two are streaming exclusively on Disney+, with new episodes available weekly.

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