Nicole Brydon Bloom: 'Paradise' thriller deftly explores feelings of loss

NEW YORK, April 7 (UPI) -- The Gilded Age actress Nicole Brydon Bloom says she wanted to star in Paradise because the post-apocalyptic political drama addresses big existential questions while it entertains.

"It really explores loss in a way that people sometimes are scared to experience or delve into and I think it does a really beautiful job of that, while also having a lot of different components -- the mystery, the thriller component, a little bit of romance," Bloom told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"I was just very, very, drawn to the show itself and Dan Fogelman's writing and then the character is quite fun, as well."

The Hulu series gets its ABC broadcast premiere on Monday.

Co-starring Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Aliyah Mastin and Percy Daggs IV, the series explores what happens when Cal (James Marsden), the leader of an isolated, idyllic and tightly regulated community, is murdered.

Bloom, Krys Marshall and Jon Beavers play Jane, Billy and Robinson, the agents who were charged with keeping Cal safe.

"I'm always so intrigued and enchanted by female characters who are outwardly self-composed and sort of removing emotion. And, so, as time progresses in our story, we see more of Robinson," said Marshall, also known for her work in For All Mankind.

"We see a softer side [of Robinson]. We see a more vulnerable side, so, for me, it was such a treat to play a character that really, in my eyes, goes from A to Z in a huge, wide spectrum," she added.

"We see a woman who's very controlled, very measured, all the way to a woman who is just desperate in love and then, at the very end, we see a woman on fire. So, to see all that wrapped into one woman and in eight episodes is really a great big sandwich of material and you'd be a fool not to want to do it."

Fresh Beat Band and Horizon alum Beavers described Billy as a flawed man who keeps secrets from even those closest to him.

"I saw a person who leads with machismo and humor and looks to deflect, relies on alcohol at times, all to cover a real hole inside of himself that we get to see later on," he explained. "He's a person who's afraid that their past -- and what they are NOT -- defines him."

Despite Billy's worldly experience, he is naive when it comes to personal relationships with Jane, his partner, and Xavier (Brown), their supervisor.

"We're watching that person develop relationships, almost like a toddler learning love and experiencing trust for the first time," Beavers said about Billy.

"We're talking about a murder mystery and we're talking about plot twists, but it's the slow, steady evolution of these people who are just wounded and looking for love and validation I think audiences, hopefully, will really relate to."

Marshall said Robinson's connections to Cal and Xavier grow more tangled throughout the series, which has already been renewed for Season 2.

"There's one I love and one I hate and, as time goes on, those relationships continue to flip and change," she said.

"Jon and I protect the president, not so well, as it turns out," Bloom quipped.

"We're not very good at our jobs, but we're learning," she added. "Xavier is our boss and I think Jane really looks up to him and loves him, maybe more than she realizes."

Beavers said Billy feels fortunate to be included in single dad Xavier's family life.

"Billy's never had a friend, really, never had somebody that saw him for who he was and loved him anyway and brought him into his home and let him have a relationship with his kids," Beavers added.

"That friendship, I think, completely changes him and motivates the plot, as well, but makes Billy a whole person where he hasn't been before and, to explore a relationship like that with another actor, you can get there in any number of ways," he said.

"When you're doing it with someone like Sterling K. Brown, who is a masterful artist, but also such a generous and truly compassionate human, magnetic, in fact, in his humanity, it was easy. I think that resonated, not just through my character arc, but through my whole performance. I got to be better i think by virtue of working with Sterling."