Who Killed President Cal Bradford In Paradise? The Twist Explained

Hulu's new sci-fi series "Paradise" recently wrapped up its freshman season, with plenty of viewers drawn in by great performances from James Marsden and Sterling K. Brown and others, like "This Is Us" superfans, excited to see a new project from creator Dan Fogelman. At first, it seems like the show will be about Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) attempting to solve the shocking murder of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden). But by the end of Episode 1, it's clear that a lot more is going on than just a high-profile murder.

Despite the fact that James Marsden gives what might be one of his best performances as Bradford (seen in flashbacks), every episode of the show sees the death of the President become a less important mystery to solve, especially as important figures like enigmatic billionaire Samantha Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) and guarded Agent Robinson (Krys Marshall) — who was sleeping with the President — are ruled out as suspects. But it turns out the killer was in plain view the whole season, with the finale revealing that it was actually Trent (Ian Merrigan), the city's librarian, who murdered Bradford.

As it turns out, Trent is not so much a librarian as he is someone with a connection to the world from before an apocalyptic event that sent the remnants of civilization underground. That's right: everyone in "Paradise" lives in a gigantic, underground bunker that's been carefully designed to look like a pristine, wealthy American city, and the real mystery — for the viewer — is finding out why they're there.

When billionaire Samantha Redmond finds out from a climate scientist that the Earth will most likely be destroyed in the near future, she immediately begins construction on an underground bunker inside a Colorado mountain. The construction foreman (Ian Merrigan) discovers that his crew is being exposed to a poisonous mineral called arsenopyrite that will claim their lives by the time the project is done. When he reports his findings to the lead architect on the project and asks that his team be spared exposure, he is fired.

The foreman becomes obsessed with exposing what Redmond is building in the mountain, but no one will listen to his suspicions. He attempts to assassinate President Bradford on the lawn of the White House, but is foiled when Xavier Collins jumps in front of the bullet. On the day of the Antarctic eruption of a supervolcano that causes an enormous worldwide tsunami, the foreman is able to walk out of prison, head to the bunker entrance, murder Trent — the actual bunker librarian — and his wife, pick up a random woman, and (having stolen the librarian and his wife's identities) gain entry into the underground city. 

Driven to take revenge for all of the people who weren't rich or important enough to earn a place in the bunker, "Trent" infiltrates President Bradford's home and hits him over the head with a rotary drill bit. Bradford stays alive long enough to leave a message for Xavier, but "Trent" finishes him off and gets away before anyone sees him. Later, "Trent" takes the directions for leaving the bunker that Bradford left for Xavier and tries to escape, but ultimately commits suicide after he is cornered by Collins and Robinson in the scaffolding above the city.

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