Rapid Insights: ‘Paradise’ Reveals the Art of Blending Sci-Fi into Prestige Thrillers
Hulu recently premiered a buzzy new mystery-thriller series laced with a sci-fi twist, and it’s already creating a major stir among critics and viewers alike. Set in a seemingly idyllic, peaceful community populated by the world’s elite, the show follows a steely Secret Service agent (Sterling K. Brown) investigating the murder of the U.S. President (James Marsden) he was sworn to protect.
Here’s what you need to know about Paradise:
Vault AI uses index scores to describe the impact a given story/theme/element will have on specific KPIs:
≤79 Disappointing 80-89 Challenging 90-109 Average 110-119 Promising 120+ Outstanding
Who’s been watching this exciting new series?
Paradise is an effective blend of Mystery (125), Crime (123), Thriller (118), Sci-Fi (113), and Drama (113), and its resulting viewership profile lands it right in the middle of these genre audiences. The show is more gender-balanced (53% men / 47% women) than other political thrillers that lean heavily into sci-fi (Silo, The Expanse, Battlestar Galactica – 59-67% men), action (The Night Agent, The Recruit, 24 – 59-62% men), or melodrama (Scandal, The Family – both 72% women). Instead, it aims right down the middle and fits best alongside shows like Designated Survivor, House of Cards, and Madam Secretary.
Why are so many viewers tuning in?
For the protagonist’s struggle. Agent Xavier Collins–the Secret Service operative at the center of the whirlpool–makes for a sharply compelling lead as he grapples with the ramifications of the President’s murder. As the head of POTUS’s security detail, his Psychological Turmoil (144) is overwhelming: it happened on his watch, he’s one of the top suspects (Under Threat, 160), and at least a part of him wanted the man dead (Inner Conflict, 125). Audiences are clamoring to watch him navigate the politically treacherous waters within the nation’s greatest halls of power in a fight that’s perilously ‘sink or swim.’
What kind of emotional experience is the show offering?
A tense one. Viewers are experiencing the same Fear (120), Rage (110), and Disgust (110) as Agent Collins as he embarks on a High Stakes (121), Dangerous Mission (125) to uncover and expose the truth. These suspense-thriller elements are contributing heavily to the show’s ratings.
What’s making Paradise so watchable?
The broader mystery. The series’ bingability is being driven by the shadowy goings-on behind the scenes of government, as a series of high-powered Conspiracies and Cover Ups (134) and unscrupulous Secret Organizations (114) are slowly brought into focus. All is not as it seems within Paradise’s slice-of-Americana utopia, and the questions surrounding who killed the President may or may not be linked to a series of life-or-death decisions he made for the nation only three years before (Political Manipulation, 121).
How’s the show’s social buzz?
On cloud nine. A two-day-early surprise pilot drop catapulted the level of online chatter to the top of our buzz meter (at 160), and it hasn’t budged from that high ever since. This pattern is somewhat unusual for a series with a weekly roll-out; most shows see a notable dip in buzz between episodes, suggesting that Paradise boasts much higher-than-average stickiness and momentum.
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*Publicly released trailers for series are evaluated using Vault’s algorithms – utilizing our proprietary 120K+ story element database alongside viewership performance and other datasets – to identify unique combinations of stories, themes, characters, and genre elements that will drive success.
