How to Get Cast on Hulu’s ‘Paradise’ (2025)

Photo Source: Disney/Brian Rodel

• What is “Paradise” about?
• Who is in the cast of “Paradise”?
• Who is the casting director for “Paradise”?
• How does the casting process work for “Paradise”?
• When does filming for “Paradise” Season 2 start?
• Where can you find “Paradise” casting calls and auditions?
• What are the best audition tips for landing a role on “Paradise”?

Created by Dan Fogelman (“This Is Us”), “Paradise” follows a series of twists and turns few viewers could have predicted. (Spoilers ahead!) The show begins with Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) finding U.S. President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) dead on the floor of his residence. As the commander-in-chief’s top Secret Service agent, Xavier feels compelled to find Cal’s killer. However, while the series appears to be a run-of-the-mill political thriller to start, Episode 1 ends with a major reveal—Collins, Bradford, and tens of thousands of survivors have been living in a bunker that protects those who lived through a doomsday climate event. Built inside a mountain, the settlement features artificial sunlight that mimics the appearance of what Earth once was. From flashbacks, we learn about the lives of the main characters leading up to the cataclysmic event and how the end of civilization as we know it came to be.

Season 1 of Hulu’s “Paradise” featured:

• Sterling K. Brown as Agent Xavier Collins
• Julianne Nicholson as Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond
• Sarah Shahi as Dr. Gabriela Torabi
• Nicole Brydon Bloom as Agent Jane Driscoll
• Aliyah Mastin as Presley Collins
• Percy Daggs IV as James Collins
• James Marsden as President Cal Bradford
• Jon Beavers as Agent William “Billy” Pace
• Krys Marshall as Nicole Robinson
• Cassidy Freeman as First Lady Jessica Bradford
• Gerald McRaney as Kane Bradford
• Enuka Okuma as Dr. Teri Rogers-Collins
• Richard Robichaux as Carl
• Matt Malloy as Vice President Henry Baines
• Charlie Evans as Jeremy Bradford
• Ian Merrigan as Trent
• Michelle Meredith as Maggie

Of course, Marsden’s character only appeared in flashbacks throughout Season 1, so it’s likely he will not return for the next installment. Season 2 will welcome fresh faces, however, including Shailene Woodley (“Big Little Lies”), Thomas Doherty (“Gossip Girl”), Michael McGrady (“Ray Donovan”), and Timothy Omundson (“Psych”). Details on their roles remain under wraps at this time.

Tiffany Little Canfield (“Wicked,” “Only Murders in the Building”) and Josh Einsohn (“One Day at a Time,” “Doctor Odyssey”) of The Telsey Office cast Season 1 of “Paradise.” They both worked as CDs on Fogelman’s “This Is Us,” as well.

So, what can actors expect when auditioning for Canfield? “I hope that people can expect to collaborate with another artist on material that they are hopefully passionate about,” she told us. “I think it’s really important to be kind and respectful and know that it’s really difficult to show up to an audition. I always try to treat that person with respect and kindness.”

As Canfield explained, many of her team’s previous projects feed other projects. “One person gets a job when you’re casting people, but that doesn’t mean one person was good. On every project we work on, we’re constantly learning new actors and seeing actors we love try something new. This happened with a pilot I just cast,” Canfield explained. “A young actor we cast in a play years ago had gotten close to a show that I had done three years ago, didn’t get the part, and now that producer and I are working on a new project. She came in and slayed and got the lead of a series. I don’t know if that would have happened if I hadn’t seen her for so many different kinds of projects and got to see how much range she actually has.

And that’s exactly what happened on “Paradise,” as the team immediately turned to Brown for the lead after having worked with him on NBC’s “This Is Us.” “Sterling is a clear leader. He has the loudest voice and loudest laugh. It creates a joy on set when your number one has that kind of energy,” he told the Washington Post. But he admits he hesitated to ask Brown to read the script at first. “It’s self-protection,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t want to go to college with someone you went to high school with. I see what’s to come for Sterling. The world is his oyster.”

Of course, Brown hopped aboard right away. “I’ve read 106 of the dude’s scripts before and all of them slapped, so I was like, ‘Let me go ahead and see what kind of magic this dude is cooking up,’ ” he told the Post. “I’m reading the thing and I’m like, ‘Oh, who killed the president?’—completely forgetting that my dude has a penchant for flipping things. Then you get to the end of the script and it’s like, ‘We ain’t really in the world? We in a mountain! Are we all cool to be here?’ Honestly, I was like, I have to figure out how this story ends, so I guess I have to be a part of it.”

Fogelman also approached Nicholson and Marsden with the intent to collaborate. When the creator told Nicholson she’d be playing an evil billionaire, she was quickly drawn to the unconventional female role. “I love mixing things up as an actor, and I love that Sinatra is a complex woman. Feeling her vulnerability doesn’t also mean that she can’t be tough as nails. We don’t have to be one thing,” she told AV Club.

“Reading the premiere, I was already into ‘Paradise,’ but when I read the second [episode, which focuses on Sinatra], I knew I would do it,” Nicholson said. “I didn’t even need more episodes. I’ve never read a single hour of TV that so deeply dives into one person’s history like that. It’s so beautifully written. I just feel like I understood her.”

Marsden told the Wrap he’s “always chasing good material,” but when it came to “Paradise,” it seems the material chased him—all the way to the Emmys. “I was familiar with [Fogelman’s] work. He stopped me at the Emmys, not last year, but the year before, and he was like, ‘I know we are not supposed to do this and talk business at these things, but I have a role for you in this show that I’m developing.’ And immediately I lit up because I knew his work, and I knew that Sterling was involved and I was playing the president,” Marsden noted. “That was one of the things I was a little nervous about, but when he told me in what capacity I would be playing the president, and that he’s sort of unconventional and loose and drinks and smokes—he’s not your typical president—I got more excited about it, that we were going to highlight more of his life as a human being, and less of what he’s doing behind the desk.”

On March 28, Fogelman confirmed filming for “Paradise” Season 2 was already underway. “We’re baaaaaaaack,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of a clapperboard. As he told Deadline in March, “I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with shows that are off the air for a very long time in which people get invested in and then it takes a long time to get it back on television. We’re ready to go right now and hoping to get this show back on TV in a normal span of time…as opposed to waiting multiple years,” he explained. “So if we came out in early 2025, hopefully the next season’s out by early 2026.”

Brown told TVLine that Season 2’s first three episodes were “all laid out,” and speaking as a fan of the series, he noted “that shit slaps real hard.” As if we weren’t already on the edge of our seats in anticipation!

Currently, there are no open casting calls available for “Paradise” Season 2. Due to the show’s popularity and all-star roster, it’s likely the powers that be will turn to agents to cast more prominent roles. If you do not yet have representation, check out our guide to getting an acting agent. Getting your foot in the door as an extra might also be a viable path, so please consult our guide to landing background work.

As you await more details about the show’s next installment, we also recommend studying up on how to audition for Hulu and bookmarking our casting directory page dedicated to the streamer’s active notices.

Both Nicholson and Marsden agree it’s important to say no if you need to. Initially, Marsden had smaller goals in mind. “I figured I would be a news anchor in Oklahoma or something. That way, I could at least feed my ego a little bit and get to be on camera and be some sort of local celebrity,” he told us. “But I soon realized I wasn’t satisfied, so I moved to L.A. at 19 to pursue an acting career.”

Marsden’s dad just so happened to know casting director Gary Oberst, who set him up with an agent. That agent imparted wisdom about being selective. “He explained I was getting a lot of good response and could make this a long career if I made the right choices. And I realized at an early age that the choices you make in this industry—and in life—are important. Sometimes saying no is just as valuable as saying yes.” That’s why Marsden passed on a three-year contract on a soap opera during his first year in L.A. “It was a steady job and good money, and I would have been happy to do it,” he explained. “But I was encouraged to turn it down and find the most challenging, interesting roles possible.”

Nicholson echoed this sentiment, telling us actors must be selective when it comes to classes and roles. “If the first one doesn’t make sense to you, keep searching.... And if you can be in a class environment instead of just privates, then you’re around other people who you can be inspired by,” she explained. “In the beginning, in particular, do the work that you’re excited about, whether it’s the role, or the director, or scene partner, or the whole story. And if there’s nothing that feels good to you in it, then say no, and wait for the one that will feel good.”

As Brown told students at USC School of Dramatic Arts, actors need to prepare themselves for external rejections by strengthening internal acceptances. “Give yourself a tremendous amount of grace, because you’ll need it,” he noted. “It’s a hard business. Your internal yes needs to be louder than those external nos.” Brown added, “If you continue to do work, you will make fans—out of casting directors, out of people who have agency in your career. Don’t be discouraged…. Failure is part of the process. The sooner you can embrace that and make peace with it, the better.”

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