Krys Marshall Reveals Reaction When She Learned She’d Play James Marsden’s Love Interest in ‘Paradise’ (Exclusive)

Krys Marshall is just like Us — and seriously fangirled when she found out she was playing James Marsden’s love interest on the new Hulu series, Paradise.

“Like cartoon wolf, [with] eyeballs, bulging, tongue rolling out,” Marshall, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly of her reaction. “I mean, obviously Marsden’s ridiculously good-looking, so that doesn’t hurt! Sign me up, I’ll do it for free!” she continued with a laugh.

She added: “He’s just so cute and sexy. And I saw Westworld … I was like, OK, this is gonna be hot. But then also totally intimidating, like, ‘I’m gonna get in bed with this gigantic megastar, are you kidding me?’ But it was fun. On those days it didn’t feel like work.”

Marshall plays Agent Nicole Robinson, who leads the murder investigation of Cal Bradford (played by Marsden), who is both president of the United States — and the man she’s having an affair with on the hit series.

Because of their characters’ interwoven storylines, the pair often shot intimate scenes together, and Marshall told Us that she was thankful for how Marsden let her take control.

“[He would] let me drive. Every decision that we made, he always checked in, like, ‘It’s up to Krys, what does Krys feel? I’ll do whatever Krys wants,’” she recalled. “So, I felt very held in this role and, when it’s all said and done, I felt really good about what I did.”

And Marsden’s playfulness and ease in serious moments, Marshall said, helped the For All Mankind actress to feel even more comfortable.

“He reminds me of 1950s jazz singers like Harry Belafonte or Frank Sinatra, you know, where he just has this easefulness and a relaxed energy that he brings to the work,” she said. “So, then your nerves fade.”

On screen, while Cal is being unfaithful in his marriage with Robinson, Marshall noted that there are layers of depth to the characters’ romance.

“One of the things I love about the relationship between Cal and Robinson is that it’s not just your typical workplace romance or tour affair with the president,” she explained. “These are two fully fleshed out real human beings who are very much in love and would be together if they were not in these crazy set of circumstances. So I think for me, that is what takes the characters from just sort of a romp in the sheets, but something a whole lot more tender, and beautiful and that was exciting for me.”

Also just as thrilling, Marshall said she was excited to reunite with Sterling K. Brown, whom she previously worked with on their NBC hit, This Is Us because “he feels very much like an older brother and like a friend.”

“I can’t say enough great things about Sterling,” she gushed, recalling how Brown, 48, was first to take control of the music on set and often played Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.”

“Sterling is hooked on ‘Cowboy Carter’ and whenever spirits would get low, he would just turn it up and play it on loud volume on the speaker on his phone and just get the vibe going,” Marshall said. “He’s just so uplifting and takes the work very seriously, [but] doesn’t take himself very seriously. I would say that his leadership skills were off the chain.”

Also taken just as seriously is the biggest question of the season: who killed the president?

For Marshall, finding out who the killer was — which will be revealed in the series’ eighth episode and finale — left her “floored.”

“I had to go back and reread because I was like, ‘How did I miss this?’ This has been in my face, in front of me the entire time.”

Marshall acknowledged that many people “want Cal dead” but added, “I think the beauty in our story is that as the episodes unravel, we will see that every single character we meet has a reason to want him dead.”

She also teased that viewers should know the killer is in plain sight and is “there all along.” However, even after episode 8 comes to a close, there are still questions left unanswered.

“I came away feeling so satisfied and also wanting so much more,” she said. “I personally get really frustrated when a story doesn’t kind of give me something to gnaw on. And this certainly does. I mean, by the end of episode 8, you go, OK, I have the answer to this question and now I have a hundred more questions.”

Marshall’s other acclaimed show, For All Mankind, and its fifth season is highly anticipated. She teased what fans can look forward to in the series’ future.

“When we arrive in season five, we begin in 2012. So, although that’s nearly 15 years behind where we are present day, because of the advancements in technology, because of the United States losing the race to the moon, to the Soviet Union, we’ll see that those advancements in technology continue and continue and continue,” she said. “So, in early seasons, we’re exploring life on the moon and life in deep space and eventually life on Mars. And now I will just tease that season five brings us even further into the universe, even deeper into the cosmos.”

The show was nominated for the Critics Choice Award in 2022 for Best Drama. Marshall said she feels “an embarrassment of riches” when it comes to her success.

“I am overwhelmed by the material that I read, and I’m frequently met with imposter syndrome of ‘How did I get here? How is this possible? I can’t believe these people like me. I can’t believe they haven’t written me off yet,’” she said. “It’s hard to wrap your mind around. You finish school and you move to New York, you move to L.A. and you’ve got this sort of pipe dream in your head that it’s all gonna come together. And for most folks it doesn’t. So for me, even now, it’s still difficult to fathom that I get to do what I love every day and call it work. It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play.”

The first three episodes of Paradise are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes will drop weekly every Tuesday, until its finale on March 4.