Shailene Woodley on Her Big ‘Paradise’ Episode: “Primal and Deeply Rooted”

Woodley joined the cast for season two as a survivor living alone in the post-apocalypse — until Thomas Doherty, and then Sterling K. Brown, came along. Shailene Woodley with Sterling K. Brown in 'Paradise' season two. Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains major spoilers from the fourth episode of season two of Paradise, “A Holy Charge.”] Any savvy viewer could have guessed that Annie would play an important part in the world of Paradise after the Dan Fogelman-created series centered its entire first episode of season two on her introduction. The former medical student, who became a Graceland tour guide after the death of her mother survived the show’s near-apocalypse for years at Elvis Presley’s famous home, only to recently cross paths with another survivor named Link (Thomas Doherty), who she spent one beautiful night with that ended up getting her pregnant. Annie, however, had refused to leave Graceland with Link and his group, and is nearing her due date when Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) shows up wounded after leaving the bunker at the end of season one in search for the wife he mistakenly thought had died, Terri (Enuka Okuma). Related Stories Movies Vince Vaughn, James Marsden Come to Blows in Time-Traveling Trailer for 'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice' TV Jack Schlossberg Slams "Fiction" 'Love Story,' Urges Ryan Murphy to Donate to JFK Library, "Do Something About Getting Trump Out of Power" In the newly released fourth episode (the first three episodes released together, before season two moved to a weekly release), Annie, who is played by Shailene Woodley, wants Xavier to bring her to the bunker so she can reunite with Link. But fate has other plans when Annie goes into labor and dies after child birth. Her last wish is to charge Xavier with keeping her baby safe, and to bring her to her father Link, who she hopes made it to the bunker. “It was the quickest turnaround I’ve ever been a part of,” Woodley tells The Hollywood Reporter of her season two casting, and having one week of prep before filming. She likens filming her emotional episodes to being in a short film, since the majority of her scenes are spent quietly at Graceland, especially with scene partners Doherty and star Brown. “We were able to create this reality that I think is a very rare reality to see on television, that just gave silence permission,” she says. That all changes, however, with Annie’s death in episode four. Below, Woodley unpacks the emotional episode as she talks about her attraction to telling Annie’s Paradise story. She also teases her upcoming Janis Joplin biopic and shares what she knows about Big Little Lies season three, but she remains largely in the dark about where Paradise goes after her exit: However, “Dan did tell me the extension of [the Link] storyline and where the baby goes,” she says. *** Can you tell me your casting story? I’m wondering if Dan Fogelman had you in mind for this role of Annie? I don’t think so. I don’t know. Dan did reach out. We Zoomed with one another, and I was a fan. I have been a fan of his for so long, and Sterling’s as well — and Julianne [Nicholson]’s and Paradise season one. I didn’t know exactly what Dan had in mind for my character. I knew there were a certain amount of episodes, and I knew a brief landscape. After our Zoom once he laid out the idea of Annie and who she was, I said I would be honored to be a part of this. And he was like, “Great, see you in L.A. In seven days, we start rolling.” I was in Europe at the time and I was flying back to the States to start prepping, and I was reading the episodes on the plane. There was no time to prepare, which I think actually lent to a lot of the intuitive process, specifically with episode one. But it was the quickest turnaround I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve seen you speak about how intentional you are with choosing your characters. Annie is another strong woman who is a survivor. What clicked or attracted you to playing her from the start? The first time I read the episode, I was so struck by the space that existed in it. There was so much silence, because she does spend so much of the episode alone. I always get excited to play with the texture of space and solitude, because that’s where I think we become the most ourselves, and where we’re also the most challenged because we’re stuck in our heads. Although Dan and his writers had created such a brilliant character, I didn’t know what Annie’s in was and what my point of relation was [in the show]. I thought we were very different, and by the end, I realized we had a lot of similarities. But I think the adventure of going into something quite blind and not having all of the answers allowed — I used the word “intu