Fans are more familiar with Vince Gilligan as the mastermind behind gritty crime dramas like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” but his newest show is about to take things into much different genre territory. The Apple TV series “Pluribus” has opted for a marketing campaign that raises more questions than answers, hinting at strange goings-on just beyond the fringes of the life of main character Carol Sturka (played by “Better Call Saul” breakout Rhea Seehorn). But, beyond the vague notion of something not quite feeling right in this world, viewers have been left entirely in the dark about what’s truly going on. That, according to Gilligan, came about in a slightly circular fashion.
Unlike his most well-known work, Gilligan’s journey to bringing “Pluribus” to a television screen near you was decidedly less straightforward than the arcs undergone by Walter White or Jimmy McGill. In a stark contrast from the drug cartels and hitmen that make up his prior two shows, “Pluribus” takes a much more heightened approach — one that might remind certain viewers of his past contributions as a writer on “The X-Files,” in fact. But, as Gilligan tells it, it took a bit of a process for him to realize where he wanted to take things this time around. In a spoiler-free interview with The Verge, the creator and writer opened up about telling a science fiction story that he didn’t necessarily set out to make. As he put it:
“I didn’t make a conscious decision to make another sci-fi show. I realized there was no other way to explain the happenings other than science fiction.”
Vince Gilligan came up with the idea for Pluribus while working on Better Call Saul
How do we talk about a show shrouded under almost total secrecy to this point? For those who want to know absolutely nothing about the basic framework of “Pluribus,” maybe take this as your cue to exit stage left and continue on your merry way. To everyone else curious about how and when Vince Gilligan came up with the main thematic thrust of his latest series, trust us when we say you’ll want to stick around.
Elsewhere in the interview, Gilligan pointed out that his overall vision for “Pluribus” came to him while filming “Better Call Saul” almost a decade ago. During his lunch breaks, he would take lengthy walks away from production and ended up mulling over one particular idea that he couldn’t get out of his mind. The end result would become the fundamental premise of his next show, which involves the perpetually unhappy Carol suddenly finding herself surrounded by people who only ever want to treat her nicely, for some reason. Gilligan revealed:
“It almost started like a daydream. I was thinking of this guy and he was living in a world where everybody was nice to him all of the time. And it’s not that he was a particularly good guy, or particularly special. He was just a normal dude. But suddenly he wakes up one day and everybody loves him. And that idea tickled me; it never went away.”
Clearly, Gilligan eventually chose to turn “this guy” into a woman played by Rhea Seehorn, and the rest is history … or soon could be, at least. Do we have our next “Breaking Bad”https://www.slashfilm.com/”Better Call Saul”-level hit on our hands? Find out when “Pluribus” premieres November 7, 2025, on Apple TV.
