When Shailene Woodley’s Annie sees a fiery crash across the border into Arkansas from her vantage point in Graceland, she initially believes Link (Thomas Doherty) has come back for her, as he promised he would when his band of survivors left the mansion months ago. But after saddling up on her horse and riding to the wreckage, all while in the late stages of pregnancy, she encounters Sterling K. Brown‘s Xavier Collins instead, in the outside world for the first time in years in search of his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma).
The second episode of Paradise Season 2, titled “Mayday,” largely unfolds in the long-gone past — tracing the origins of Teri and Xavier’s unlikely and charming romance — and immediate past — the circumstances leading up to Xavier’s plane crash and his following encounter with a group of traumatized children.
When Xavier and Annie’s paths cross, she takes him in and patches him up, seeing the ex-soldier as a useful ally in taking her to Colorado, so she can be reunited with Link. But he has other plans, adamant to continue his journey into Atlanta to find Teri.
Below, Brown talks to Deadline about his character’s marital backstory, what he hopes Xavier imparted on the child survivors and the value of seeing a “purely platonic relationship” between a man and a woman developed on screen.
DEADLINE: Episode 2 takes the time to explore Teri and Xavier’s initial romance. What was it like playing those scenes opposite Enuka? And can you share how you both approached crafting those early moments?
Yeah, it was a joy. Enuka Okuma is the homie. I love her. She is sweet and warm and kind and easy to love on screen. I think the biggest thing that we wanted was, we wanted the sort of tug of war or push-pull of will-they [won’t-they]. Will she accept him? Will she not accept him? We know, of course, that she does accept him. So I think it was like, how hard can she reject him without coming off as completely and totally disinterested, and she was masterful in keeping me at arm’s length with a smile or with a twinkle of the eye, and he was eager to take whatever nibbles he got and hold on to them as if they were precious kisses from the beginning.
And I feel like for the audience, it was such a wonderful investment in seeing how and why he loves his wife so much, or the evidences, the beginnings of that love that he has toward his wife. Because I think it also helps to understand why he grieved her loss so tremendously at the beginning of the show.
When your character goes outside and encounters this band of children, he’s shocked and disturbed to find this grizzled world. What was your reaction to reading those moments in the script? And what do you hope Xavier imparts on them, given that they’ve probably seen the worst of humanity?
I think there’s a natural level of protection that comes over Xavier right from jump street, and I think that’s an interesting thing to have happen as he explores the unknown, because wariness and caution would probably be the things that predominate his mindset. But children have a way of disarming and allowing you to access softer places that he may not have had access to as easily if he had not met the kids.
It’s also interesting, like Season 1 and Season 2 for Xavier begin with children. And I think that there’s something very important there because it sort of reconnects him to why he left the bunker in the first place — was to reunite his wife, slash, mother of his children with their family, and then recognizing like, ‘Oh, you know what? Other people need to be reunited too. Other people are out here on their own, alone, trying to figure it out,’ like it’s not just about me. I can be of use. I can be of service. Because I think he likes to be of service.
I think if he had not met the kids, you could have seen just a very warrior-like mentality from beginning to end in a direct beeline to find his wife. But I think the fact that he is injured, and he’s not his most capable self, and that he still needs to be a protector for these kids, is something that allows him to progress through the new world in a way that I don’t think he would have otherwise.
One of the beautiful additions this season is Shailene Woodley’s character. What were your approaches in building what, at first, seems to be a tense dynamic — they want polar opposite things — but eventually blossoms into one of mutual respect and even friendship?
First of all, Shailene is wonderful. I love her, great actress, great human being. I would do it again and again and again and again in a heartbeat, she’s awesome, she’s open and approachable, wanting to share herself with her scene partner in ways that make it easy to get to know each other and have camaraderie on screen as well as off.
It’s interesting because she’s very guarded, for obvious reasons; the world has ended as she’s known it. She is pregnant and alone and has to survive. The world is in a state of survival. And what does that mean? It means I take care of myself. You take care of you. I’m taking you in for a second, and then as soon as you’re well, you go on about your business, but you can be of service to me. You know about this place in Denver; my friend, the father of my child, has gone to this place in Denver as well. Take me to him. So you need something from me. I need something from you. And so there’s a mutual agreement of: we’re not buddies, but we can be of service to each other, and then it slowly evolves into [something more].
I think what I like about this relationship, and we don’t get a chance to explore enough of these relationships on camera, but I think they’re happening more is a purely platonic relationship between a man and a woman, and that they can be friends and that they can help each other through incredibly difficult times, and there doesn’t have to be anything else attached to it, other than I care about you and you care about me; the fact that you were willing to open your home up to me means something. It means that there is a generosity that is present in humanity that allows me to have some level of trust, especially for two people who have been very guarded; Xavier in the bunker was not the most trusting person in the world. He has his own things to overcome as well, and it’s really nice because I think relationships grow exponentially in crisis.
What can you tease about the joint nosebleeds and the invisible string connection that Xavier and Link seem to have to one another?
Good questions, Natalie, good questions. What can I say? [Laughs] I could say that is a great detail to pay attention to. And if you even go watch again, I think there may be another person with a nosebleed, or did we cut it out? I’m trying to remember if we cut it out or not; there may be another nosebleed to pay attention to. So that’s the only thing I can tell you.
This interview has been edited and condensed for concision and clarity.
English (US) ·