9 min readIN A WEIRD way, Dan Fogelman was priming us for Paradise when he created This Is Us, the ABC series that dominated airwaves from 2016–2022. Sure, that show was a grounded family drama about the emotionally messy lives of three siblings, their parents, and their children and partners. But it was also full of shocking twists (exploding, patricidal Crockpots!), timeline shenanigans (flashbacks, flash-forwards, flash-every-which-ways!), and Sterling K. Brown. Season 1 of Paradise began as what appeared to be a somewhat domestic drama itself: the suburban, almost Pleasantville-esque life of a president spending time away from the White House. But by the first episode’s end, it was revealed that this idyllic suburb was a massive underground bunker, that the White House was decimated along with the rest of society by some unknown cataclysm, and that a shadowy cabal of billionaires and technocrats was pulling all the strings. The twists kept coming: murder, betrayal, murder, the revelation that people were alive outside of the bunker, more murder. The season ended with Brown’s character, Xavier Collins, confronting the bunker’s architect, Samantha "Sinatra" Redmond, and striking out on his own to find his wife in the wasteland above ground.
So, okay, Paradise was a character-driven post-apocalyptic drama. Nope! Season 2 introduced a spate of new characters, made more revelations and set up more mysteries through what appear to be flashbacks, and started seeding the beginnings of a sci-fi twist. Enter Thomas Doherty, the 30-year-old Scottish actor who plays “Link,” the mysterious leader of a posse looking for Sinatra’s bunker and for someone or something called Alex. Along the way, Link falls in love with Shailene Woodley’s Annie, and the two have a baby. But by yesterday’s season finale, all of that came under question. Is Link, real name Dylan, actually Sinatra’s dead son, also named Dylan, from another timeline? Is Alex, revealed to be a massive supercomputer, able to manipulate said timelines? Is Annie’s baby more than just a regular baby? Paradise has kept viewers guessing and has steadily become one of TV’s most talked about shows, with a TikTok cottage industry sprouting up to disseminate and debate fan theories.
As some fans patiently wait for more answers and others not-so-patiently offer up their own, we talked to Doherty about entering the show’s second season as such a pivotal character, what he knows and doesn’t know about what’s coming, and why he really hopes Link can get a clean shave next season.
MEN’S HEALTH: Paradise has evolved in so many different ways over just two seasons. And after yesterday’s finale, it’s clear that even with all the clues Dan Fogelman and the writers and directors are dropping, we as the viewers will always be surprised by something. I have no idea what is going to happen, and I love it.
THOMAS DOHERTY: Honestly, it's even better being in a show where you have no idea what's going to happen. It teaches you to trust who you're working with, which is easy on my end, with the caliber of showrunner, writers, and actors I'm working with. So you just kind of surrender to it, and then you can play. You strangely feel safer fucking up when you embrace not knowing.
MH: How much did you know about Dylan/Link when you first read the part?
TD: Well, I was going through a quiet phase in my work. I’d just finished Tell Me Lies, and after that, I hadn’t worked for maybe nine months. Then I had five auditions in a week, and the last audition was for a character described as “Burly Man” in Paradise season 2. I remember saying to my team, “Come on, guys, we're not this desperate! Obviously I'm not a ‘burly man.’” And they said, “Thomas, you know the show. It's an amazing show. Just do the audition.” And as it transpires, I did possess enough burly in me to get the job.
MH: What was the description of the character by the time you got the first script? Surely it wasn’t still “Burly Man.”
TD: Actually, let me find the script for you. [Pulls up audition sides on his phone] “Paradise. Wednesday, the 19th of March, 2025, 2:45 PM. Audition.” This is so crazy, I've never looked back at this until right now. “Role: Link. Tough, charming leader of a motorcycle gang. Though initially intimidating, he's quite warm, smart once he lets down his guard.” So that's kind of all we get given!
MH: As the season went along—and more clues began to drop about who Link was, and what Alex was, and what the hell was going on—what did the writers tell you?
TD: You kind of get little bits from different writers, you get bits from Dan, you get bits from other actors who know about their own characters. It's fun. It’s just like what you experience when you watch the show. You pick up on little clues and watch how they develop. I've already done that, and it’s just as exciting for me because I'm such a fan of the show as well.
MH: Do you read scenes you’re not in? Or do you try to stay in the dark about what other characters are doing?
TD: I'll read them to see if anything directly pertains to me. And if nothing does, I'll forget about it—or try and forget about it. I don't want to go in there knowing a character’s story and trying to turn the scene into something I want or trying to manipulate the outcome. I’m working with a caliber of actor who will just bring everything out of you. When I go into a scene with Sterling or Shailene or Julianne, whatever I'm greeted with will be so well fleshed out and developed, and if I’ve developed my character well enough, they’ll interact with each other authentically and in surprising ways. It's more exciting and it's more fun. And for me, it's such an amazing opportunity to work with these actors, and I really want to take full advantage of that.
MH: Link and Annie go through a lot of emotional development in a short amount of time. As new characters, we kind of speed-run them into the story. How were you able to create the camaraderie and connection needed to really sell that story?
TD: Well, I got the job on a Thursday, went to LA to prep on Monday, and was on set on Friday. Meanwhile, Shailene got the job on Friday, went to LA on Monday, and was on set on Wednesday. So we had no time. Zero. But I was already the biggest Shailene fan. She was top three for me. Always followed her career. Always looked up to her. So when we met, I was just kind of like, “Hi…” [Waves sheepishly] Then the next time we were on set, it was to shoot the scene where she breaks down, and then Link breaks down, and we have that really beautiful, emotional moment that leads into the sex scene. That's all the interaction we’d had before that scene! It was a testament to how good she is as an actor that she made it feel safe. I was able to be so vulnerable and so present with another actor who was ultimately still a stranger to me at that point. And it actually worked out perfectly for the scene. It allowed us to just be there and experience what the characters were experiencing. We were touching for the first time and they were touching for the first time. So the apprehension leading up to that first kiss was there. It was real even if the circumstances were imaginary.
MH: It’s interesting that you played such an intimate scene before playing the scenes where Link and Annie first meet, which are decidedly more confrontational. There’s a subtext to those scenes: a woman trapped in a house with several strange men during lawless and desperate times. There’s a very specific kind of tension there. Did you feel that because you’d already built so much trust as actors, those scenes were less stressful to play?
TD: It did, it made it a lot easier. I always try to explain to my family that the hardest part about acting is, yes, our brains rationally know that we're pretending, but if you're overloading your nervous system to try and make these emotions feel real, your body doesn't really know the difference. So for Shailene, for example, if you're pretending that you're trapped in this house with these four or five men and worst case scenarios are running through your head—that's what your body's experiencing. That’s what it actually feels like. So I'm glad that we did know each other and that we developed a space for trust between us prior to doing those scenes. Because it was quite aggressive! They cut some scarier stuff out where I’m ripping her out from under the bed. It's always nice to go into a sequence like that in a way where she trusts me and knows that she's safe, and she can still act what the scene requires. For me, I remember the flashback scene where Billy holds a gun at Link. My brain knew that I was in fucking Hollywood pretending to be in danger, but my body didn’t! For hours after, I was still really anxious. Acting is…a strange thing to get paid for.
MH: We’ve all seen shows or movies with great “wig acting,” where the actor’s wigs are really standing out all on their own. I think you were doing some great beard acting in Paradise. We see a young Link clean-shaven, then we see him with a full beard, then we see him with some trimmed, respectable facial hair, and then we go back all over the place as we jump timelines. How did you manage that beard?
TD: I grew out my own facial hair into a beard, but then they layered on another beard on top of it with glue. It took maybe two hours to glue on the beard, cover my tattoos, muddy me up, give me some prosthetic scars and add all the small details like dirt under my nails and scratches in certain places. It was really meticulous, and it makes all the difference. But, oh, the beard was horrible. The glue would get caught in my own facial hair, and it was itchy and hot as shit. I was fucking sweating buckets and itching like mad. I don't miss that beard.
MH: After the finale, the audience finally knows what Alex is, and we have our theories of what it’s capable of. With Sinatra seemingly dead, knowledge of her exact plans may be gone with her. And while Xavier has some set of instructions from Alex, he hasn’t deciphered them yet. That leaves Link, who helped create Alex. Going into season 3, does Link/Dylan really know exactly what Alex is, what it’s doing, and how to use it?
TD: Dylan knows exactly what it is. That's why he is in such pursuit of it. He knows what he's dealing with—he made it, he developed it with the professor, and he wants it. I absolutely do believe and trust that what he wants to do is to hone it and utilize it for the greater good. For everyone. Whereas Sinatra selfishly tried to keep it for herself, or for the select few. Which I, Thomas, do understand! But as far as Link is concerned, Alex is his work, his development. This is something that can change the world. It can help the world. And it can also destroy the world. Link’s ultimate pursuit is to get Alex back and utilize her, or it, for good.
MH: Be honest, do you know what’s going to happen in season 3?
TD: …Yeah. [Laughs] It's good, man. It's so good. I wish I could tell you, but I'm glad I can't tell you. Because I want you to experience it. After what they've done in season 3, I thought, How the fuck are you guys gonna top this? But they've done it! They've done it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Nojan Aminosharei is the Entertainment Director of Men’s Health and the Special Projects Editor of Harper’s Bazaar. He was previously the Entertainment Director of Hearst Digital Media, and before that a Senior Editor at GQ. Raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nojan graduated from NYU with a master’s degree in magazine journalism. The late Elaine Stritch once told him, “What the fuck kind of name is Nojan? I’m 89 years old, I don’t have time for that shit.”
