Almost Paradise is a Filipino-American crime drama television series created by Dean Devlin and Gary Rosen. Starring Christian Kane, Samantha Richelle, Arthur Acuña, Nonie Buencamino, Ces Quesada, and Sophia Reola, the series follows a former DEA agent-turned American expat in Cebu, Philippines, as he balances his work running a gift shop at a resort hotel in Mactan with assisting the local police department in investigating crimes.
The series premiered March 30, 2020 on WGN America; it was the first American television series to be filmed entirely in the Philippines, with ABS-CBN Studios serving as a co-production partner on the first season. The series was later acquired by Amazon Freevee, who subsequently ordered a second season in February 2022; all ten episodes were released on July 21, 2023. In April 2025, the series was cancelled by Amazon after two seasons, although Devlin states that he intends to shop it to other broadcasters.[1]
Former DEA agent Alex Walker (Christian Kane), forced into retirement, moves to the island of Mactan in the Philippines. He purchases a gift shop at the Paradise hotel in the hope of managing his stress and high blood pressure, but the criminal activity 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.
Almost Paradise was the first American television series to be filmed entirely in the Philippines;[15] creator Dean Devlin stated that the series was inspired by a local news story he saw while on a honeymoon in Hawaii, but felt it would be more "authentic" to set it in the Philippines due to his heritage.[16] He aimed to avoid local issues such as Filipino politics and poverty, explaining that "to be able to bring things from the culture — the looks, the costumes, the traditions — and put that seamlessly in a very American show, one of the goals here is not to say that Filipinos are the other. The goal is to say Filipinos are us and we're all part of the same beautiful community."[15]
The series received a 10-episode order from WGN America in April 2019.[17] Production for season 1 began at Bigfoot Studios in Cebu in November 2019, as a co-production with ABS-CBN Studios.[18][19] Filming wrapped only 18 hours before COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions took effect in the country—a circumstance that Devlin compared to "trying to get the last helicopter out" during the fall of Saigon.[20][15]
In June 2020, amid plans for it to be converted to a cable news channel, Devlin revealed that WGN America had not renewed the series. However, he also stated that Electric Entertainment was nearing an agreement with an unspecified streaming service to pick up the first season, and gauge interest in ordering a second season.[21] On January 19, 2021, Amazon announced that it had acquired the first season of Almost Paradise, and that it would be added to its free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform IMDb TV (now Amazon Freevee) beginning February 1.[22] On February 8, 2022, Amazon announced that it had ordered a second season.[23] ABS-CBN was replaced as production partner by Arcade Film Factory.[24][25]
Producer Francis dela Torre stated that although Amazon was interested in renewing Almost Paradise for a third season, the series could not continue production in the Philippines due to high production costs and other "inefficiencies", which had caused season 2 to go over its budget. He cited the higher fees for location filming, equipment, and crews, and tax rebates for international co-productions being capped at US$200,000 (in contrast to other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, where these are uncapped); US$8 million had been spent on the local economy during the production of season 1.[26]
On April 5, 2025, it was reported that Amazon had cancelled Almost Paradise after two seasons; Devlin stated that he was planning to shop the series to other outlets, adding that "I've never had a show that was this successful and yet couldn't stay at the same place more than one season."[25]
On January 19, 2020, the first trailer was released along with the announcement that the series would premiere on March 30, 2020.[27]
In the Philippines, the series aired in a Filipino dub via Kapamilya Channel's Yes Weekend Sunday primetime block, Kapamilya Online Live and A2Z from March 21 to May 23, 2021, replacing Pinoy Big Brother: Connect and was replaced by the first season of He's Into Her.[28] On April 9, 2021, the original version was released on iWantTFC. The series re-aired the dubbed Season 1 from January 7 to February 5, 2023 replacing Maalaala Mo Kaya and Click, Like, Share.
On February 8, 2022, Amazon announced that it had ordered a second season,[29] with all ten episodes premiering on Amazon Freevee on July 21, 2023.[30]