Stephen King Recommends Hulu’s 88% Rotten Tomatoes Sci-Fi Thriller You Probably Missed

Here’s something you almost never hear in TV: the second season is actually better than the first. Usually, showrunners start running out of gas, stories go off the rails, actors get bored, or everything just gets bigger instead of better. But recently, legendary horror author Stephen King called out Hulu’s sci-fi drama Paradise for doing the impossible: sticking the landing and managing to get even sharper on its follow-up.

King dropped his thoughts on Threads, and if you’ve ever wanted someone to perfectly sum up why a show is working, well, here you go:

'PARADISE (Hulu): First season is good, second season is even better. How rare is that? The acting is good, the story actually hangs together, and the dialogue is the best part. Sharp. Few cliches. Highest praise: Elmore Leonard would watch this.'

That’s some serious validation: not only did he give it the King seal of approval, he even pulled out the Elmore Leonard comparison—which is a pretty big deal if you like smart, tight writing. Honestly, King doesn’t throw these out every week. And considering he watches everything (and occasionally dunks on the stuff that lets him down), this feels noteworthy.

How Did Paradise Pull This Off?

Paradise comes from creator Dan Fogelman (yep, This Is Us Dan Fogelman), and first hit Hulu in January 2025. It landed hard with critics, pulled in solid viewership, and racked up four Emmy nods right out of the gate—including Outstanding Drama Series, plus acting recognition for Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden, and Julianne Nicholson.

The show’s second season arrived in February 2026 and pushed the story past the first season’s bunker walls, sending lead character Xavier Collins off to search for his missing wife, Teri Rogers-Collins. The general consensus? It’s working, possibly even better than before. In fact, the show’s Rotten Tomatoes score actually went up, climbing from a strong 86% for season one to an even stronger 90% for season two. Not something you see every day.

Quick Recap: The Paradise Timeline So Far

• January 2025: Paradise debuts on Hulu. Critics like it. Award voters like it. Viewers stick around.
• February 2026: Season 2 drops, going even bigger with its world and characters (but, crucially, also smarter).
• March 17, 2026: Sterling K. Brown himself announces the show is coming back for a third round.
• March 30, 2026: S2 finale drops on Hulu. At this point, general buzz is at its peak.
• April 7, 2026: Season 3 production officially kicks off.

Why All the Fuss?

There’s something pretty refreshing about a sci-fi thriller that actually improves over time, instead of just throwing more explosions or plot twists at you. King gave special attention to the dialogue, which he says is sharp and mostly avoids the cliches that plague this kind of show. It doesn’t hurt that the cast and writers are firing on all cylinders. The comparison to Elmore Leonard especially hits, because Leonard was all about slicing through filler and keeping everything crisp—traits that most genre TV could use a lot more of.

If you care about those backroom TV dynamics: Paradise has settled into a steady Monday schedule for new episodes, and it’s sticking to a tidy, one-season-a-year rhythm. Consistency probably helps—no Wonder, the show’s never had to fill in gaps with stretch episodes or cliffhangers for the sake of corporate synergy. (Looking at you, most streaming franchises.)

Of course, Stephen King weighs in on plenty of TV these days—he’s posted about everything from Silo to Stranger Things to From—but rarely does he bother to say this much good stuff about a second season. If you needed an excuse to catch up, well, here it is, straight from the master.