Almost Paradise is an American-Philippine crime drama television series produced by Dean Devlin and Gary Rosen.[1] The series is the first American television series to be filmed entirely in the Philippines. It premiered on March 30, 2020, on WGN America (now known as NewsNation) in the United States.[2] The series was renewed for a second season on Amazon Freevee, with all 10 episodes premiering on July 21, 2023.
Premise
Former DEA Agent Alex Walker, forced into retirement, moves to the island of Cebu in the Philippines. He purchases a hotel gift shop in the hope of managing his stress and high blood pressure, but the wealthy and criminal elements on the island keep drawing him back into law enforcement. Alex struggles to balance his time running his gift shop, which is worn down and in extensive need of repairs and upgrades, with solving various high profile crimes that threaten the island and its residents, often working alongside Mactan Police detective Kai Mendoza, her partner Ernesto Alamares, and Chief Ike Ocampo.
Cast
Main
Christian Kane as Alex Walker, a former DEA agent who moves to the Philippines following a forced retirement due to medical issues. He buys a gift shop at an upscale resort but also lends his expertise to the Mactan Police Department from time to time.[3]
Samantha Richelle as Detective Kai Mendoza, a detective with the Mactan Police who often works with Alex. The two often clash over how to handle a case but a deep friendship bordering on attraction develops between the two.[3]
Arthur Acuña as Ernesto Alamares, Kai's partner. He, like Kai, is often irritated by Alex's methods but the two develop a deep respect and friendship. He has a very calm demeanor.[3]
Nonie Buencamino as Ike Ocampo, chief of the Mactan Police Department and Kai and Ernesto's boss. He is quick to take credit with the press for the cases that Alex helps to solve.[3]
Ces Quesada as Cory Santos, the manager of the hotel and Alex's de facto landlady as, while Alex owns the gift shop, his utilities come from the resort. She initially acts hostile towards Alex but it is shown that she does have a certain fondness for him.[3]
Sophia Reola as Rita Cordero, daughter of one of the resort employees. Alex befriends her after her father is murdered. After Alex helps solve the case, he hires Rita to help out at the gift shop.[3]
After being betrayed by his ex-partner, ex-DEA agent Alex Walker moves to an island in the Philippines for his health. Despite his doctor's orders, he falls back into his undercover ways to help the local police with a drug sting operation.
Alex has to find a way to help his friends as well as a US State Department bureaucrat there to work with an arms dealer when a typhoon hits the islands and the arms dealer's men---who infiltrated as a rowdy sports team arrested for disorderly conduct---take them hostage.
Uncle Danny, Alex's con-artist relative, comes to the island and Alex is caught between protecting Danny from the police and mafia... and protecting the island from his uncle.
When Alex' favourite country singer comes to town, Alex takes a job protecting him. The singer is kidnapped and Alex has to figure out who is behind the crime.
When a local priest is murdered over a long-lost ancient cross, Alex, Kai and Ernesto must solve the priest's murder.
12
2
"Badminton"
Gary L. Camp
Marco Schnabel
July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
When Alex's friend from the local gym is found murdered, Alex investigates and discover that his friend was involved in an underground badminton competition. Alex and Ernesto must go undercover as badminton players to solve the murder.
Alex befriends a boat mechanic who was wrongfully accused of murder in a remote fishing village.
14
4
"Bahala Na"
Dan Villegas
Calvin Sloan
July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
Alex temporarily moves in with Ernesto and is drawn into a generation-spanning family drama.
15
5
"Deus Ex-Wife Machina"
Francis dela Torre
Sean Presant
July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
Alex's ex-wife shows up with her new fiancé, asking Alex to sign her divorce papers---which leads to the fiancé's kidnapping by a crime lord whose hired hands mistake him for Alex.
During the traditional "Ghost Month" in the Philippines, Alex is seemingly visited by the spirit of a dead man who was wrongfully accused of a crime and seeks justice.
Kai and Alex go undercover at a self-help retreat in order to extract a naïve young woman from what is really a cult.
19
9
"Old Times"
Marc Roskin
Calvin Sloan
July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
When Alex becomes entangled in a homicide investigation, he is forced to befriend an older couple with peculiar personality traits.
20
10
"Brigade"
Francis dela Torre
Sean Presant
July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
Alex goes undercover as a prisoner and, with the help of Kai and Ernesto, figures out how The Waterboarder has been running his criminal empire from behind bars.
Production
Almost Paradise is the first American television series to be shot entirely in the Philippines. The show boasts an all-Filipino staff and crew, assisted by Cebu locals for the shoot.[16]
In September 2019, it was announced that ABS-CBN would be venturing into Hollywood television production with the American television and media production company Electric Entertainment, which is headed by Filipino-American producer Dean Devlin. A U.S. crime series set in Cebu, Almost Paradise aired in the United States via the cable company WGN America.[17] The series began filming at Bigfoot Soundstage Cebu in November 2019.
Devlin mentioned in an interview on June 4, 2020, that WGN would not renew the show for a second season, but that an unnamed streaming platform was willing to stream all of the episodes to gauge public response for another season.[18] On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Almost Paradise would stream online on IMDb TV (rebranded Amazon Freevee in May 2022). All season one episodes of the show were made available on demand as of February 1, 2021.[19] The series was eventually picked up for a second season, by IMDb TV, on February 8, 2022.[20]
The show is distributed by Electric Entertainment in Europe, South America and the Middle East,[21] and by ABS-CBN Studios in the Philippines.[22] The second season was produced by Arcade Film Factory.[23]
Release
On January 19, 2020, the first trailer was released along with the announcement that the series would premiere on March 30, 2020.[2]
On February 8, 2022, it was announced that Almost Paradise was renewed for season 2.[25] All 10 episodes of the second season premiered on Amazon Freevee on July 21, 2023.[26]
