Who is Alex on “Paradise ”— and what does it mean for the season finale?
Who is Alex on “Paradise ”— and what does it mean for the season finale?
Randall ColburnTue, March 24, 2026 at 7:26 PM UTC
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Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra in 'Paradise' season 2Credit: Disney/Ser Baffo
If you're nostalgic for the halcyon days of Lost, you should really be watching Hulu's Paradise.
Dan Fogelman's twisty series began as an investigation into the assassination of the U.S. president, Cal Bradford (James Marsden), but soon revealed itself to be a post-apocalyptic story set in an underground bunker following a mass extinction event.
Season 2 took us beyond the bunker, with Sterling K. Brown's Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent, venturing into the outside world in search of his wife, who was believed to be dead. He finds her alive, and also intersects with a group of survivors traveling to the bunker with plans to "kill" someone called Alex. Link (Thomas Doherty), a leader among the survivors, appears to be referring to Alex when he mentions "something that nobody knows about, something dangerous" in the bunker.
Alex is a name that also surfaces inside the bunker, with psychotherapist Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi) spending much of the season trying to uncover the identity of Alex and what Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), the bunker's big boss, knows about it.
So, where do the Lost parallels come in? Well, season 2 has slowly built up a mystique around Alex that appears to hinge on quantum physics and the manipulation of time, similar to many of Lost's mysteries.
With the identity of Alex only growing more and more opaque throughout season 2, you're probably wondering who is Alex, exactly? Or perhaps a better question is what is Alex?
Ahead of the season 2 finale on March 30, we break down everything we know so far about Alex's connection to the bunker and Paradise's main characters.
Is Alex a person?
Patrick Fischler as Dr. Henry Miller and Gwen Holloway as Alex in 'Paradise' season 2, episode 3Credit: Hulu
We have met a character named Alex, though it's unlikely she's the one Link and his people want to kill. Why? Well, because she's already dead.
Alex was briefly introduced in "Another Day in Paradise," the third episode of season 2. Played by Gwen Holloway, she was the sick wife of Dr. Henry Miller (Patrick Fischler), the quantum physicist behind a company called Vestige Quantum.
In flashbacks, we learn that Sinatra desired the company and the technology it was creating. After Miller turned down her offer to buy it, he's murdered by Billy (Jon Beavers), a hitman hired by Sinatra. But before he's killed, we see Miller, who knows he's about to die, fill a syringe and inject it into his wife's IV.
"I'll see you soon, my love," he says to her. "Goodbye, Alex."
It's logical to surmise, then, that the Alex in question isn't a person, but rather a codename for the technology that Sinatra sought to control. That Alex isn't human is supported by the end of season 2's penultimate episode, in which Sinatra stands before an unearthly orange glow in the bowels of the bunker. "Hello, Alex," she says.
If that's true, what purpose does Alex serve?
'Paradise' season 2, episode 7Credit: Hulu
The true nature of Alex is still unclear, but fans are theorizing that it has the ability to manipulate time. Why? Well, there are several reasons.
First, there's the fact that Miller taught a course on “Advanced Wave Functions, Superposition, and Quantum Entanglement.” In science fiction, quantum entanglement is often used as a scientific justification for multiverse-building and timey-wimey storytelling, including on Lost. (Another Lost parallel? Bloody noses that start trickling when time gets weird.)
There's also the fact that Paradise occasionally introduces strange congruities. Remember when Billy becomes disoriented during his barroom chat with Miller? That's because it mirrors a similar exchange he would have with Xavier in the future. (Try not to think about it too hard, lest your nose also start bleeding.)
Consider, too, the scene in season 2's sixth episode when we see a man receive messages from an "Alex Q" that predict the birth of Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom), whom the messages describe as a "killer" who "can be stopped when it matters." They read like someone from the future attempting to change the past.
And just look at the structure of the show itself. Paradise frequently hops through time, with numerous flashbacks informing the present action. Linearity is not a concern.
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Finally, there's one line that's been sticking with us. Speaking with Sinatra in a flashback, Dr. Louge (Geoffrey Arend) says, “There’s only one thing that can fix this, and it’s the one thing even you can’t buy… time.”
How is Link involved?
Thomas Doherty as Link in 'Paradise' season 2Credit: Disney/Ser Baffo
While we still don't know why Link wants to "kill" Alex, we do know that he has a connection to Miller, meaning that he almost certainly has a connection to the technology Sinatra so desired.
Miller spoke often of a brilliant student who understood quantum entanglement better than anyone he'd ever met. Miller not only made this student a business partner, but he thought of him as a son. That student, we come to learn, was Link.
Before he's killed, Miller, who appears able to see into the future, begs Billy not to kill Link. "When the boy comes, let him go," he says. "Do not harm him. It is not hyperbole to say that the fate of the world may depend on it."
This quote dovetails with something Fogelman, the show's creator, previously told Entertainment Weekly. Link, he said, "holds a lot of keys and connection to the whole story."
How does Link's relationship with Sinatra tie into the Alex mystery?
Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra and Thomas Doherty as Link in 'Paradise' season 2Credit: Disney/Ser Baffo
This is the big question, one that will likely be answered in the season finale.
In season 2's penultimate episode, Link is granted an audience with Sinatra after he and his fellow survivors camped out in front of the bunker. After he informs Sinatra he's there for Alex, she kicks him out.
“Lady, you’re not quite getting it. We’re coming in," Link warns. "I will find Alex, and we will end this."
That's when one of his colleagues calls Link by his real name: Dylan. This stops Sinatra in her tracks. Why? Because Dylan was the name of her son, who died years before. Also, he's the same age and shares the same birthday as her Dylan. Suddenly, both of their noses begin to bleed and, despite the intensity of their interaction, Sinatra almost smiles.
Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra in 'Paradise' season 2Credit: Disney/Ser BaffoWho is Dylan really?
Throughout the season, viewers have seen just how much the death of Sinatra's son Dylan has impacted her. In one scene, she appears to resent her husband, Tim (Tuc Watkins), for his ability to move on. She doesn't think she ever will.
“[Dylan’s] loss is is basically why [the bunker] exists," Nicholson said in a recent interview with Decider. "Her need to protect her remaining family has been at the top of her list ever since then. Everything is driven with that as the end goal."
After her interaction with Link, a.k.a. Dylan, she tells Tim, “It worked. I think it worked." When he asks if she's okay, she replies, "I think. I can’t explain it, but I think Dylan is, too.”
It appears as if Sinatra believes that Link is somehow her son — and that she somehow set this in motion, likely with the time-altering properties of Alex.
Nicholson spoke about the twist with Decider. “I was like, ‘Wait, how does that work?’ Physics! Quantum physics, guys!” she said. “I found it very moving. I obviously don’t know quantum physics, so I had to have faith in the writers, who did all this research. But I found it very moving, even just for Sinatra to imagine that this is her son. We don’t know, exactly."
Intriguingly, she discussed the "understanding that it never was just about the bunker," as well as the fact that Sinatra "did have a larger plan in mind from the very beginning."
That larger plan? And Alex's true purpose? We'll have to wait until the finale to fully grasp it.
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