"Made a commitment to each other": Paradise showrunner Dan Fogelman talks about the hit Hulu thriller getting only 3 seasons

Showrunner Dan Fogelman has officially wrapped up the production of Paradise Season 2, and as we get closer to a new season, the question arises whether his commitment to the three-season run has changed.

The showrunner has been more than vocal about his decision to make the show a three-season run ever since Paradise Season 1 rose to the unprecedented heights of popularity. The show has also earned four Emmy Award nominations this cycle, one of them for Outstanding Drama Series.

In a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the showrunner addressed this question and whether the Season 2 production affected this decision in any way.

Keep reading to find out what he revealed about Paradise's future.

Showrunner Dan Fogelman on the future of Paradise after the three seasons

Showrunner Dan Fogelman has always been one of the creators who has a story progression planned way ahead of time. So, it was expected that when Paradise rose to fame after its premiere on Hulu, the showrunner had a preconceived three-season plan in place.

Actor Sterling K. Brown has revealed that when Fogelman has such a number in mind, the show usually ends up being exactly that long. Such was the case in the last project that Brown worked on with Fogelman, This Is Us. Brown revealed that This is Us was planned as a six-season project from the beginning, and so the show came to a tearful conclusion after the pre-planned six-season run.

Now that the Season 2 production for Paradise is officially wrapped, Fogelman addressed the possibility of the show's future beyond the three seasons. He revealed that now that he was in the midst of filming the show, there might be the possibility for more material than the originally planned length.

"I will admit that the breadth of the second season — I’m filming the finale as we speak — it’s gotten so big and exciting that it does make me go, "You know what? There might be a little bit more meat on the bone here than I realized.""

He revealed that the finale of the second season had gotten extremely big and exciting, leading him to reconsider the three-season run to explore some more aspects of the show.

Even though Fogelman revealed that he had second thoughts, he chose not to confirm anything. Instead, he added that even if he felt there was more breadth left to cover, he had made a commitment to Sterling K. Brown to do the three seasons, with eight episodes, so his first priority was trying to ensure that he stuck to that commitment:

"But for the most part, Sterling and I made a commitment to each other to do three seasons of this, eight episodes a season."

Finally, he said that the only way he would ever extend beyond the three seasons was if he had a lot more story left to tell, which he could not cover in the three seasons, and absolutely needed to extend past it.

"The only way I would expand it is if I was like, "Oh shit. There is a lot more story to tell here that I can’t tell and tell well [in three seasons].""

Nevertheless, with the second season heading into post-production, we're another step closer to Paradise Season 2 making it to our screens without an extended gap between seasons.

According to comments from Brown and Fogelman, the second season of Paradise is set to expand even further on the first season, as it will feature his character, Xavier, out in the world. But, as he's exploring the outside and trying to find his family, the audience will also get a chance to keep up with characters on the inside, and both worlds will collide for a thrilling showdown in the season. The showrunner revealed:

"We’re going to live in both worlds. There is going to be a little bit of a start where we go on a journey with Xavier. A very exciting, emotional, big journey, and then we will also be living in our downstairs world of the bunker, and forces will eventually be colliding. That’s basically the plan."

Additionally, Shailene Woodley is set to join the cast for Season 2 in an undisclosed role, along with Thomas Doherty in another undisclosed role. The two of them will be joined by Michael McGrady and Timothy Omundson in the cast to shape up the complete meal that Fogelman intends to serve:

"We have a plan and, hopefully, by the end of all three seasons, people will feel like they’ve been served a complete meal and that it’s all one piece, even though they went through a lot of different journeys to get to the end."

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