{"id":555980,"date":"2026-03-31T10:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/555980\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:36:15","slug":"alex-dylan-connection-in-season-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/555980\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex-Dylan Connection in Season 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This story contains spoilers for the \u201cParadise<\/a>\u201d Season 2 finale, now streaming on Hulu.<\/p>\n

\n\tXavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown<\/a>) has a new mission heading into \u201cParadise\u201d Season 3 \u2014 but whether he\u2019ll accept it is left up for debate by the end of the second-season finale of the Dan Fogelman drama, which released Monday on Hulu.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the final episode of \u201cParadise\u201d Season 2, titled \u201cExodus,\u201d it\u2019s revealed that the \u201cAlex\u201d that Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) has been hiding away is a super computer more advanced than any AI has ever been, to the point where it\u2019s potentially capable of time travel. The device was created by Link (Thomas Doherty<\/a>), who is now hellbent on shutting it down as he fears it has fully taken on a mind of its own and could be a detriment to the remaining people of Earth rather than a saving grace. <\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, Sinatra has formed the theory that not only is Link is actually (somehow, thanks to Alex) her deceased son, Dylan, but that Alex is the key to reversing what happened to the Earth, and Xavier is the one who needs to solve it. Why Xavier? Alex has provided instructions for a \u201cUser X,\u201d whom Sinatra has surmised is Xavier. And before Sinatra sacrifices herself to shutdown the bunker while everyone else escapes its destruction, she tells Xavier he has to be the one to go to Alex and save them all \u2014 because she thinks he somehow already has in the future, leading to timeline anomalies like Link\/Dylan. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think this is Fogelman\u2019s exploration of the multiverse. Any show that\u2019s dealing with genre and science fiction or whatnot eventually loves to play around with the idea of, is time travel a possibility?\u201d Brown told Variety. \u201cAnd what are the rules that dictate our excursion into time travel? The first time that I really got geeked over it was \u2018Back to the Future.\u2019 So you\u2019ve seen Marvel has dealt with the multiverse and all the different timelines. \u2018Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse\u2019 has done its own specific thing as well. I find it intriguing, because \u2018Everything Everywhere All At Once\u2019 is more real than people think. And it unlocks your brain in such a way that whatever you think is possible can be possible if you can conceive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBrown continued: \u201cAnd so now that this is introduced into our world, I think the question is, what do you really want? Do you want to go back? Do you want to move forward and leave it alone? Is it too mysterious to play with, to even tinker with, or is it too compelling to not? And different people have different decisions to make based upon where they are in life at that particular time. And you\u2019ll see how that plays out over the course of Season 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cParadise\u201d executive producer and Season 2 finale co-writer John Hoberg confirms that creator Fogelman\u2019s plan is still a three-season arc, with the upcoming Season 3 \u2014 which will begin filming April 7 \u2014 serving as a \u201cpretty definitive\u201d ending for the story.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you think about where all of our characters are and what we were left with at the end, which is Xavier has been given this task by Sinatra to go to this second bunker, the question for me is, is he going to?\u201d Hoberg teased. \u201cDoes he believe in what Sinatra is up to? Is Sinatra actually up to good? Does this machine do what she thinks? Or is she actually just dealing with her own grief, like she said? And will Xavier answer the call to do what she wants? I don\u2019t know if I can name a specific genre [to describe Season 3], but I do know we\u2019re going with, Xavier has been given a task, and I\u2019m asking myself, is he going to follow through on this? And what are the repercussions if he does and if he doesn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat makes Xavier the chosen one in this case? Hoberg promises \u201cParadise\u201d will answer that burning question, and many more, before the series ends. In fact, it\u2019s been a mission of Fogelman and the \u201cParadise\u201d writers\u2019 room (which just pitched the series finale outline to Brown last week) to not leave any big loose ends: \u201cThere is a reason why Xavier is User X, and we\u2019ll find that out,\u201d Hoberg said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think from Season 1, we established the moral compass that is Agent Collins, and that he\u2019s willing to make difficult decisions for the greater good,\u201d Brown added. \u201cThere\u2019s something about him and why Dr. Torabi chose him to be part of the president\u2019s Secret Service detail in the first place to come to the bunker that makes him uniquely equipped to deal with difficult situations in the clearest way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Link\/Dylan is also dealing with an identity crisis: He\u2019s maybe Sinatra\u2019s son, he\u2019s definitely the father of the now-deceased Annie\u2019s (Shailene Woodley) infant daughter, and he\u2019s potentially still leading the crusade to take down Alex.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe knows that it\u2019s feasible. Is it true? We don\u2019t know yet. We\u2019re going to find that out, definitely, in Season 3, so that\u2019s why I don\u2019t want to say too much on that,\u201d Doherty said. \u201cI think with Season 3, we\u2019ll start to see all this information \u2014 I mean, one of those things, individually is hard to compute, to comprehend, never mind process it. I think we\u2019ll see him start to process his daughter. We will start to see how he\u2019s processed Sinatra potentially being his mother. We will start to see the loss of Annie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough nothing can be confirmed yet. Brown says that the \u201ccoincidence\u201d of Link\/Dylan\u2019s name and birthday is \u201cbeyond mere coincidence, but more like a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Anne Marie Fox<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are things that we actually had in that finale that got cut that go a little bit further in trying to explain the connection,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think they ultimately decided to take them out, because I don\u2019t know if the science scienced, exactly. What can I say? Oh, my God! They are obviously connected. I don\u2019t think it is just her grief working out. There\u2019s a connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the end of the \u201cParadise\u201d Season 2 finale, Xavier\u2019s family has been reunited, but his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) and children Presley (Aliyah Mastin) and James (Percy Daggs IV) now face a new challenge, along with the thousands of other people who have just been expelled from the now-destroyed bunker.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou got the 10,000 people that Link had, the 20,000 people that were inside the bunker,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s no central leadership. You could say Link is leading the folks on the outside \u2014 but there\u2019s a mass amount of people that came to do something and now it\u2019s a matter of, do they continue on to destroy Alex? Do they change course? Is Alex not as important anymore? What do the people inside the bunker decide to do? Are they going to stay together? Are they going to branch off and try to find their own people? There\u2019s going to be a lot of different groups that disperse throughout Season 3 and we will follow all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDoherty says that in \u201cParadise\u201d Season 3 \u201cit\u2019ll be really, really interesting\u201d to watch the dynamic between Link\/Dylan and Xavier, as Dylan looks to parent his infant daughter (brought to him by Xavier only the \u201choly charge\u201d from Annie) and continue on his quest. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think that they\u2019re cut from a very similar cloth, but I think Xavier is a lot more settled as a human being. He\u2019s older, he\u2019s more experienced, he\u2019s got more composure; whereas, where we leave Dylan, he\u2019s still kind of full of spunk and full of justice,\u201d Doherty said. \u201cAnd, like younger people generally are, he\u2019s got that testosterone and that, like, \u2018this is the right thing to do,\u2019 compelling them. It\u2019ll be quite interesting for him to be around someone that shares very, very similar beliefs, but is also more of a realist than him. Is Dylan gonna learn from him, or is he gonna fight against Xavier?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Ser Baffo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\n\tXavier has other problems to deal with to: now that he\u2019s reunited with his thought-to-be-dead wife, he\u2019s got to explain his one-night stand with Dr. Torabi (Sarah Shahi) to Teri. \u201cYou will see in Season 3 that it has obviously been brought to her attention,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd you will see how they manage it as a couple. We\u2019re not just gonna slide over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, the Collins family is happy to be back together, but much has changed in just the few years they\u2019ve been apart as Xavier and the kids have lived in the bunker and Teri has survived on the outside.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s a very different setup,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe also have two more white babies with us. Delightful welcomes to the tribe. I think he\u2019s happy as a pig in slop to be with his wife, to be with his children. They obviously have been displaced, so they have to find out, what does life look like for them now, where they\u2019re going to go, where they\u2019re going to set up, who\u2019s going to be a part of their tribe? His daughter\u2019s getting older. She\u2019s got a boyfriend, she\u2019s walking off from her daddy. So there\u2019ll be different challenges in terms of that dynamic. There\u2019s gonna be something really interesting with our two newest members as well, with Bean and Annie. Now, Annie\u2019s obviously with her dad, but there\u2019s something there will be something there, too. The dynamics have shifted, and the shift causes a certain degree of friction which will compel us into action for Season 3.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This story contains spoilers for the \u201cParadise\u201d Season 2 finale, now streaming on Hulu. Xavier Collins (Sterling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,128373,13284,23493,59692],"class_list":{"0":"post-555980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-just-watched","10":"tag-paradise","11":"tag-sterling-k-brown","12":"tag-thomas-doherty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}