After a season full of twists, betrayals, and buried secrets, “Paradise” finally answered the question that’s been haunting fans since the premiere: Who killed President Cal Bradford?
The season finale didn’t just deliver that long-awaited reveal — it left viewers reeling with new questions about what’s to come.
But don’t worry, the wait for answers won’t be long. Creator Dan Fogelman reassured a fan worried about a long hiatus, tweeting, “We start shooting in just a few weeks. It won’t be 2 years, I promise!”
With season 2 of “Paradise” officially on the way, the fallout from this shocking revelation is only just beginning. Here’s what went down in the season 1 finale, including the identity of Bradford’s killer.
Warning: massive spoilers from the finale ahead!
Who killed President Cal Bradford?
The short answer is the librarian whose actual name is Trent (Ian Merrigan).
The finale begins with a flashback to the construction of Paradise. The project manager who oversees the crew, Trent, is a good guy with a big heart who bonds with the workers. When he discovers the excavation is digging up arsenic dust, he brings it to the attention of the architect, who promptly fires Trent.
From there, Trent becomes obsessed with the bunker and becomes a conspiracy theorist — except, of course, the conspiracies are true. His obsession pushes him to try to assassinate the president but Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) saves Cal (James Marsden).
Trent is sent to prison, conveniently in Colorado. On the day of the apocalypse, a prison riot frees him and other inmates. Wearing a guard’s uniform, he approaches a couple waiting in their car in traffic headed toward the bunker.
Trent shoots both of them and steals the identity of the man, who turns out to be a librarian. He shaves his head and takes the man’s clothing. At a gas station, he sees a random woman and decides to give her a chance at survival as the other half of the couple. She turns out to be Maggie, the waitress at the diner.
How the mystery is solved
After Xavier’s fraught meeting with Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), he sets about trying to solve Cal’s murder. Now armed with the knowledge that the killer’s DNA is not in the Paradise database, he reexamines the scene of the crime.
There, he finds the mix CD that Cal made for his son, Jeremy (Charlie Evans). As he listens to it, Xavier rethinks the number written on Cal’s cigarette and realizes might have something to do with the library.
There, he sees that the library’s books are classified with six-digit numbers, just like the one written on the cigarette. It leads him to a biography of Frank Sinatra, which contains Cal’s handwritten notes.
But just as Xavier is perusing the notes, he’s knocked out by … the librarian aka Trent.
Meanwhile, Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall) is investigating on her own, with help from Dr. Torabi (Sarah Shahi). As they comb through the records of Paradise residents, they find an anomaly that leads them to the diner waitress, who tells all.
How the finale ends
Xavier and Robinson pursue Trent as he attempts to leave Paradise with Cal’s notes. They catch up to him above the city, but he jumps to his death.
With that squared away, Xavier goes to confront Sinatra to learn the whereabouts of his daughter Presley (Aliyah Mastin). Sinatra, who previously ordered Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom) to “take care” of Presley, informs him that she’s dead.
Enraged, Xavier pulls out a hidden gun and seems about to shoot her in the dead. Instead, Jane appears and shoots Sinatra in the throat. It seems she wants the billionaire alive for her own reasons, but Sinatra will have a long recovery ahead of her.
After reuniting with his kids, Xavier takes Cal’s notes and heads to the hangar. He climbs into a small plane and pilots it through the opening doors. “I’m coming, baby,” he vows, referring to his wife. The sunlight — real sunlight — hits his face.
What’s next for ‘Paradise’ in season 2?
While the “Paradise” season 1 finale wrapped up its main storyline by answering the question of Cal Bradford’s killer, it leaves off with a lot of questions.
The big one is, of course, whether Xavier finds his wife — and what her status is. Clearly, she survived the apocalypse, but she’s almost certainly been changed by the experience. And if / once Xavier finds her, will he bring her back to Paradise? What about other survivors she may be with? It’s unclear how many more people they can bring into Paradise without the entire bunker collapsing.
Other lingering questions include what Jane’s agenda is, whether Jeremy Bradford will rise up to become a politician like his father and who will fill the power vacuum left by Sinatra as she recovers.
Oh, also, are we going to get that cashew cheese fries recipe?
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