The Emmy-nominated Paradise is gearing up to bring more twists and turns in season 2.Sterling K. Brown, who stars as Xavier Collins, teases what’s to come as his character ventures into a post-apocalyptic America.Shailene Woodley and Thomas Doherty are among the new cast members featured in a first look at season 2.

Welcome to the apocalypse.

Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is off to parts unknown, having left for the outside world at the end of season 1 of Hulu’s Paradise. The Dan Fogelman-created series follows Brown’s FBI agent as he navigates life living in the underground bunker dubbed “Paradise” and seeks to clear his name following the murder of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden).

Over the course of season 1, Xavier learned the truth about Paradise, including the fact that there were survivors following the mass extinction event on Earth that sent him and his kids, as well as some hundred-odd other souls into hiding in a world engineered (and run) by a shadowy figure known as Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson). After an attempted coup, Xavier discovered that his wife might still be alive — and made the difficult decision to leave his kids behind in the care of Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom), a fellow secret service agent with her own nefarious agenda.

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So, is Brown about to emerge into The Last of Us? “They’re completely different worlds,” he says, with a laugh. “Completely different worlds and a completely different tone, but as interesting for very, very different reasons.”

Though he wouldn’t say no to a crossover. “That’s way above my pay grade,” Brown adds. “But if it could happen, it would be a lot of fun.”

But as of now, Paradise is its own entity — and one that has a lot more secrets to reveal. Ahead of their first visit to San Diego Comic-Con, Brown chatted with Entertainment Weekly about season 2, what Xavier might find in the outside world, and his new costar, Shailene Woodley.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve already been filming season 2. What can you tease so far?

STERLING K. BROWN: Xavier’s out in the world. He’s looking for his wife, trying to find her. Is she alive? Is she not alive? Will he find her? Will he not find her? We see how people have been surviving that didn’t have the means and the planning that the people inside the bunker did. They’ve made a way. It doesn’t look as organized, obviously, but it is a way. We meet people who are benign. We meet people who are nefarious.

Last we saw him, he was getting in this plane and leaving the bunker. How essential is the plane in his journey? Or does he do a lot on foot? 

There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Lots of ways to travel. John Candy and Steve Martin told us once upon time, there’s planes, trains, and automobiles. Remember there’s the EMP that the president launches in episode 7, so that may factor into how people get around. You can’t fly everywhere because then it would be an isolating experience. So, at some point in time, you have to get out and be amongst the people. 

Can we pretty much assume that his goal is getting to Atlanta first? 

That is his stated goal. Absolutely.

Shailene Woodley in ‘Paradise’ season 2.

Ser Baffo/Disney

How much are we going to be checking in with the folks that are still back in Paradise, who are trying to put their lives back together after this moment of rebellion?

Wouldn’t be Paradise without the folks in Paradise. The season is divvied up between Xavier’s exploration of what is outside and what continues to happen inside after the melee that transpired with Sinatra and Jane.

After the ordeal they had, will Xavier’s kids trust Sinatra now, and more importantly, Jane?

Do you know what I love about Jane? Jane is the one character where the audience is ahead of Xavier. The audience knows more about Jane than Xavier does. So Jane has Xavier’s complete trust, and I like that because the audience is constantly like, “What?” So that continues.

Is Sinatra a little bit humbled at this point?

She got shot. It hurt. There’s a little bit of a recovery that has to take place there, and Dan has stated that there is more than meets the eye with regards to Samantha/Sinatra, I like to call her by her government name. His stated goal is continuing to unearth who she is as a person and what her motivations are. I would even go so far as to say he is attempting a path of redemption. Whether Xavier sees that path or not, [I don’t know]. He still probably just wants to kill her. But there’s a little bit more that we learn about her throughout the course of the season that may change the way in which people see her. 

Prior to going into the bunker, Xavier was pretty good friends with the president. Will we see any more of their relationship in the past or now that the mystery is solved, is that over? 

No, we see a little bit more of Marsden. We get a chance to see him in different time periods. So it’s nice. It’s really cool. 

In terms of what Xavier will find, are there a lot more people than he’s anticipating?

It’s a hard question to answer because I don’t even know what Xavier expected. You heard the radio and the signals of people who were trying to find their way to other people, et cetera. The evidence of life. So, Xavier knows that there is life out there, but I don’t think he has any clue as to how much life there is or isn’t. It’s new to everybody. As Xavier explores, the audience is going to be going through it just the same as he is.

Is he going to be able to really have any contact with Paradise, or is that going to be limited to non-existent? 

It is hard to have contact. That’s the whole thing about the president putting off the EMP; it really isolated and cut off Paradise from the outside world. Unless he’s able to get to some sort of ham radio thing. And then who’s he going to contact? Sinatra? He’s flying blind a little bit.

Thomas Doherty and Shailene Woodley in ‘Paradise’ season 2.

Ser Baffo/Disney

Do you have more action scenes this season than last?

More. He knows Paradise. He has a command of the area. Everything is brand new now. Everything was familiar. Now everything is brand new. You’re encountering people that you’ve never met. They don’t know your motives. You don’t know their motives. So, there’s a little bit more friction. The friction gets amped up.

If he does find her, for both of them, is it just relief or is there any frustration, resentment, or anger in terms of how everything happened? 

That presumes that he finds her, so I can’t really answer that question. 

Shailene Woodley is joining the cast this season. What can you tell us about her?

I can’t say much. I made a friend, that’s really the biggest thing. It’s always great when you hire wonderful people that are good at what they do, but when you actually make a friend that’s even cooler. She’s sweet, honest, open, ready to play, and very professional. I expected all of those things of her. But to have met her and to have played with her in the sandbox, it was everything and more. She’s outstanding.