Adults Season 2 puts Jack Innanen's Paul Baker in a love triangle
Paul Baker — always Paul Baker, never just Paul — is stuck between his girlfriend and his husband in Season 2 of FX's Adults.
The second season premiered in late August, according to Variety. Paul Baker, played by Jack Innanen, is the nexus of a love triangle torn between his girlfriend Issa and his husband Anton. He goes by both names every time.
Adults is an ensemble comedy series, meaning the story is shared across a group rather than one lead. It follows five friends living together in a shared house in Queens, New York. The group is Samir, played by Malik Elassal, Billie, played by Lucy Freyer, Issa, played by Amita Rao, Anton, played by Owen Thiele, and Paul Baker. FX describes them as twenty-somethings navigating love, work, friendship and family.
Season 2 runs for eight episodes. A prequel episode laying out Paul Baker's origin story was released on FXX and Hulu on 31 July ahead of the season, according to Variety. Along the way this season, Paul Baker is found to have a secret group of “shame friends”. Viewership for Season 2 is up 40% on Season 1, Variety reported on 14 September.
Innanen spoke to Variety about the arc in a feature interview published on 30 September. He also discussed the limits of packing sitcom story into an eight-episode run. Eight episodes leave little room for filler.
Off screen, Innanen is Canadian. He studied astrophysics at the University of Toronto before dropping out and moving to New York to pursue comedy. He started as a childhood YouTuber and had about 3 million TikTok followers before landing Adults. He also appeared on The Office Movers, a comedy on Canadian channel Crave, the home of Heated Rivalry.
That Canadian link changed the character. Creators Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw rewrote Paul Baker to be Canadian because Innanen is Canadian. Paul Baker was first written as being from Colorado with a cockier, playboy edge.
The show films in Toronto, where Innanen went to university. He is now based in New York. He told Variety he turned down a role in Heated Rivalry and is shooting Season 2 of Dan Levy’s Netflix series Big Mistakes. His moustache, now instantly recognisable, is something he jokes about shaving.
What makes this stand out for viewers is continuity. The same actor, the same housemates, the same full name every time. Season 2 tests whether that setup holds when Paul Baker’s other relationships walk through the door.
