Shailene Woodley only just joined the cast of Paradise as Annie, and she's already been written off the show in a truly shocking moment from Season 2 Episode 4.
Quick reminder: Xavier meets up with a pregnant Annie and they go on a mission to find their partners. But Annie goes into labor during their travels and—despite attempts to save her life—she dies from blood loss after deducing that she has preeclampsia (a blood pressure condition that can develop midway through pregnancy).
Despite Shailene's short run on the show, she knew what she was getting into. "I knew how many episodes and I knew what was going to happen," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I knew that she was going to get pregnant. I knew that she was going to give birth, and I knew that she was going to pass away. But I didn’t know exactly how that was going to look, and what the timeline was going to be, until I read episode four. It’s so profoundly and poignantly written, that reading it in and of itself evoked every emotion that we needed to bring it alive on the day. I credit the writers who are so brilliant and so in touch with their own humanity, which made our jobs a lot more seamless."
The actor also told Deadline "I knew it was coming. I didn’t know exactly the details of how it would unfold, but I think it’s the greatest joy a human can experience, bringing a child into the world, and then obviously, the greatest pain a human can experience, knowing you’re leaving the world. And I was very supported by the crew and by the cast and by our director in that moment, but it was definitely a ride, and I contemplated a lot on how to just be as honest and truthful to the moment as possible, and what that would look like."
