Shailene Woodley gets emotional while discussing ‘Paradise’ and its message of hope

Shailene Woodley has opened up about the powerful message behind her apocalyptic drama Paradise, admitting the show’s themes of hope and human connection made joining the project an easy decision.

The 34-year-old actress stars as Annie in the series, and she said the story’s exploration of suffering, resilience and community deeply resonated with her.

Reflecting on the show’s message, Woodley became emotional as she explained that she found “a lot of hope” within the series.

“I’ve spent a lot of time around in a lot of different communities, in and out of my own life, where when there’s great suffering, there’s also great potential for deep love and deep support if you have a community around you,” she said.

“It’s one of the major messages of this show. Goodness exists in the human heart,” she added.

Woodley also revealed that she connected with Annie’s emotional journey because of her own experiences with loneliness.

In the opening episodes, her character spends time isolated inside Elvis Presley’s Graceland, and the actress said portraying that solitude helped her explore the different sides of loneliness.

“In my own life, I’ve experienced loneliness in different, obviously very different, ways than Annie,” she told the TV Topics podcast.

“But loneliness is this very relatable feeling that can either take someone down or can serve as a reminder of resiliency,” she continued.

Woodley explained that Annie’s loneliness also represented hope, saying the possibility of finding connection became what kept her character moving forward.

“Because within loneliness, there can always exist a hope for something better, a hope for the antidote for being alone. To me that was what kept Annie going,” she said.

The actress also opened up about filming one of the show’s most intense moments — Annie giving birth to a baby girl with help from her friend Xavier, played by Sterling K. Brown.

Woodley said the emotional weight of the scene stayed with her even after filming ended.

“I remember getting in my car after that day, calling the person that I was dating at the time and just saying, like, I am so present,” she recalled.

“I felt so present because the adrenaline of having such an emotional experience really kind of cuts through it all,” she added.

Woodley joined Paradise shortly before production began, revealing that she had only nine days between her first Zoom conversation with creator Dan Fogelman and the start of filming.

Despite the quick turnaround, she described the experience as natural and instinctive.

“The whole thing for me felt a little bit like a whirlwind in the best way. It was very intuitive, the whole process,” she said.

The actress added that playing Annie became a deeply personal experience, describing the role as almost meditative.

“I learned a lot from her, maybe more than I’ve learned from other characters,” Woodley said.

“It felt kind of like a meditation playing her because the first two weeks of filming was just me in Graceland.”