Who did Shailene Woodley play in ‘Paradise’ Season 2? Actress wins first Emmy for Hulu hit
Shailene Woodley has been starring in prestige productions such as ‘The Descendants,’ ‘Big Little Lies,’ and ‘The Spectacular Now’ without winning an Emmy for almost two decades, but that changed Sunday night. Woodley won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys on September 6 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, for her role in Hulu’s ‘Paradise.’ It is also her first Emmy in two nominations, which is making viewers wonder: who did she play? It’s Annie Clay, a character introduced at the start of ‘Paradise’ Season 2 who does not meet the show’s protagonist, Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown), until well into the ‘Paradise’ premiere arc.
Annie’s story opens ‘Paradise’ Season 2 almost as a standalone chapter. A former medical student, she became a Graceland tour guide in Memphis. When the world suffers an apocalypse known as “The Day,” Annie manages to survive by finding shelter within Elvis Presley’s estate. The series takes its time showing us her years of solitude, with only a brief encounter with a certain group of survivors led by a man named Link (Thomas Doherty). Annie and Link quickly become romantically involved before he persuades her to come with him to find a rumored underground bunker in the Colorado mountains, where he expects to find supplies to last them several years. He departs for Colorado to find the exact location, vowing to return for Annie. But he does not know that Annie is already pregnant.
That is where Xavier makes his appearance. His plane, last shown taking off in ‘Paradise’ Season 1, in search of his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma), crash-lands very near Graceland. Annie, now very pregnant and using her old medical expertise, finds him and helps him recover. They spend some time together, after which Annie agrees to help Xavier reach Atlanta in the hope that he would take her to see Link at the Colorado bunker later on. But this plan is thwarted when, in episode 4, ‘A Holy Charge,’ she dies during childbirth with Xavier by her side, just as her character’s arc comes to an end. Fast forward to today, she beat out Miriam Shor, Merritt Wever, Brittany Allen, Tal Anderson, and Tina Ivlev to win an award. It was her first Emmy win, after being nominated in 2017 for her role in ‘Big Little Lies.’ The 2026 Creative Arts Emmys, which aired over two nights, will be edited into a special that will air on FXX on September 12, ahead of the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14.
