'Paradise' stars on Graceland, Season 2 and real-life political drama

Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson and Shailene Woodley talk Hulu's \

"Paradise" gets down in the jungle room in Season 2.

The sophomore season of Hulu's Emmy-nominated series expands in a major way as Sterling K. Brown's Xavier explores the brave new world outside the not-so-utopian bunker that was the setting for Season 1 of the drama. The sci-fi show takes place in a world in which the population has been mostly decimated by an apocalyptic natural disaster, except for the lucky few who made it into a bunker built for wealthy elites.

But for this new batch of episodes, "Paradise" jumps out of the bunker and right into Graceland − yes, that Graceland. Filled with new faces, including "Divergent" star Shailene Woodley, the new season of "Paradise" is bigger, more complex and even more relevant than ever. Speaking with USA TODAY, the cast previewed what you can expect in the exciting new season.

Our first taste of what happened on the surface after the show's super volcano (and all the weather and man-made catastrophes that followed) follows Annie (Woodley), a med school-dropout turned Graceland tour-guide who makes her own personal sanctuary during the tumult in Elvis Presley's legendary home and tourist attraction.

"It was pretty much square inch to square inch replica of Graceland itself," says Woodley, whose Annie is seen huddling against the ice-age-like winter caused by the volcano in the King's furs, reading by the light of novelty Elvis candles and sleeping in a recreation of that iconic Jungle Room the mansion is known for. The theme-park-like aesthetic added to the unreality of Annie's situation, living mostly in solitary confinement for the years after the world ended. "The interior design of Graceland is not common," she jokes. "Graceland was a big character."