Pluribus: all the latest on Vince Gilligan’s Apple TV series

It’s a good thing that we already know a second season of Pluribus is on the way. Because the season finale for the show — a sci-fi drama on Apple TV, helmed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan — made it clear that things are just getting started. The episode brought together a number of significant threads but, more importantly, opened up potentially explosive (literally) new lines of inquiry for what comes next.

Spoiler to follow for the first season of Pluribus.

Things might finally be looking up. In the penultimate episode of Pluribus’ first season, Carol (Rhea Seehorn) actually seems to be happy. That’s a pretty big deal for someone the show describes as the “most miserable person on Earth,” who also happens to be living through an odd sort of apocalyptic scenario that she is desperately fighting to stop. But what does her change in demeanor mean for the show as it moves toward the finale?

Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows Carol as one of a handful of “survivors” on Earth after a virus of unknown origin turns the rest of the world into an interconnected hive mind. The hive is cheerful, Carol is not, and all kinds of drama follows. Each week, I present a handful of questions from the latest episode to get a conversation started, so feel free to chime away in the comments with your own thoughts, theories, and questions. We’re getting very close to the end now, so naturally spoilers follow for the first eight episodes of Pluribus.

The theme of this week is isolation. That’s always been a part of what makes Pluribus so unsettling, of course; in the show there are only a handful of human survivors left on Earth, while the rest of the population has turned into an interconnected hive mind, some 7 billion people strong. But watching Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) struggle through that loneliness in episode 7 really drives that point home.

Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows Carol as one of the few “survivors” on Earth after a virus of unknown origin turns the rest of the world into the aforementioned hive mind, also known as the others. The hive is cheerful, Carol is miserable, and hijinks ensue. Each week, I present a handful of questions from the latest episode to get a conversation started, so feel free to chime away in the comments with your own thoughts, theories, and questions. Obviously, spoilers follow for the first seven episodes of Pluribus.

Every week since Pluribus’ premiere, I’ve presented a handful of burning questions I have about what’s coming next. And most of the time I really want to know the answer. This is a show where mysteries are baked into the premise, with a slow-burn structure that can make it very satisfying when the answers start rolling in. But I regret wanting to know what the hive mind are drinking in episode 5 — I now have the answer, and I really don’t like it.

Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows a woman named Carol (Rhea Seehorn), who is one of the few “survivors” on Earth after a virus of unknown origin turns the rest of the world into a connected, cheerful hive mind. Carol also happens to be among the most miserable people on the planet. Each week, I present a handful of questions from the latest episode to get a conversation started, so feel free to chime away in the comments with your own thoughts, theories, and questions. Obviously, spoilers follow for the first six episodes of Pluribus.

After the last two episodes of Pluribus — in which Carol (Rhea Seehorn) was involved with an exploding hand grenade and an ill-advised truth serum — I couldn’t help but wonder just how long the hive mind would tolerate her destructive ways. Well, here we are in episode 5, and I have an answer. “We just need a little space,” the hive tells her over a recorded message.

Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows Carol as one of the few “survivors” on Earth after a virus of unknown origins turns the rest of the world into a connected hive mind, one seemingly unable to handle any negative emotions. This creates a huge conflict with Carol who is a pretty miserable human being. Each week, I present a handful of questions from the latest episode to get things started, so feel free to chime away in the comments with your own thoughts, theories, and questions. Obviously, spoilers follow for the first five episodes of Pluribus.

Last week, one of my big questions about Pluribus was whether our reluctant hero Carol (Rhea Seehorn) would find someone to help her save the world from the scourge of happiness. In episode 4, I got an answer — sort of. We’re clearly introduced to a character who thinks much like her, but how they’ll actually connect is still a big question mark.

Welcome to our weekly discussion about Apple TV’s latest sci-fi series Pluribus, which comes via Breaking Bad creator (and former X-Files writer) Vince Gilligan. In the show, most of humanity has become part of a hive mind that seems only capable of positive emotions, while the perpetually miserable Carol is one of a handful of “survivors,” and also someone who desperately wants the world back the way it was. Each week, I share a few of my biggest questions about the latest episode, and Verge subscribers can use the comments to respond, pose their own questions, and posit other theories and ideas. Naturally, spoilers ahead for the first four episodes of Pluribus.

If you weren’t clear on just what a miserable person Carol (Rhea Seehorn) is, episode 3 of Pluribus sure makes it obvious. It opens with a flashback, as Carol and her partner Helen (Miriam Shor) are on a dream vacation at an ice hotel in Norway, and all she can do is complain about how cold it is. When Carol sees a stunning aurora borealis, her only thought is “it looks like a screensaver.” But that cynicism might also be her superpower as she prepares to solve the hive-mind apocalypse that has descended on Earth.

Welcome! The two-episode premiere of Pluribus, the new Apple TV show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, introduced a strange world where a woman named Carol is thrust into an almost postapocalyptic setting where nearly everyone else on the planet is now part of a hive mind powered by unyielding positivity. The premiere also generated a lot of great discussion among Verge subscribers. So I’m hoping to keep that energy going in the comments here, kicking things off with a few of the biggest questions I have at this point in time. Naturally, spoilers ahead.

The lead-up to Pluribus has been very secretive. The basic premise — miserable woman is stuck in a world where everyone is happy — was known early on, but that was followed by cryptic trailers that didn’t really reveal much else. But now we have a much better idea of what Pluribus is after the first two episodes premiered on Apple TV.

That mysterious nature is the main reason why I avoided almost all spoilers in my initial review of the show. It’s the kind of story where preserving that feeling of surprise is very important. But Pluribus is also a series that begs for a deeper discussion. In fact, that’s one of the goals of creator Vince Gilligan, best known for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

Toward the end of the first episode of Pluribus, Carol (Rhea Seehorn), a woman put in a bizarre and impossible scenario, asks a very straightforward question: “What the fuck is happening?” It’s something you’ll likely be asking yourself a lot while watching. I certainly did. But that ongoing sense of mystery, and the measured pace with which Pluribus reveals itself, is one of the best parts of the new series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. I can’t tell you a lot about Pluribus just yet — but I can tell you that being bewildered is part of the appeal.

Okay, so what can I tell you? Carol is a successful writer of fantasy novels — excuse me, “speculative historical romance literature” — and she hates both her work and her audience. She wants to do something more meaningful, but the money she rakes in from her books makes it hard to make the switch. Despite being rich and successful, and having a caring partner who doubles as her very capable manager (Miriam Shor), Carol is mostly miserable, though she’s largely able to fake it in public.

Now he’s best known for the crime-fueled duology of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but when Vince Gilligan was first starting out in television, it was in the realm of sci-fi. Over seven years he penned a number of classic episodes of The X-Files, ranging from a monster-themed spoof of Cops to a bizarre high-speed car chase that was his first collaboration with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. And now he’s back in the genre with the upcoming Apple TV series Pluribus, which starts streaming in November.

But Gilligan tells me that, while he had been itching to return to sci-fi, actually getting there was a bit of an accident. “I didn’t make a conscious decision to make another sci-fi show,” he tells The Verge. Instead, he came up with a specific idea and discovered no other genre would do. “I realized there was no other way to explain the happenings other than science fiction.”

After a bunch of very cryptic teasers, Apple has finally revealed a proper look at Pluribus, it’s next big sci-fi series. The show comes from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, and stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol, “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness.”

The brief teaser trailer shows Carol seemingly being catered to by the rest of the world’s population, who have indeed been inflicted with the scourge of happiness. It’s not clear why Carol isn’t being impacted by whatever has changed the world, but everyone seems intent on fixing it so that she can “join” them. Carol, naturally, is very confused — and upset. It’s all very unsettling, but it seems like the show will balance things out with dark humor.

As promised, Apple has finally revealed Pluribus, a new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that’s coming to Apple TV Plus. In addition to a very brief teaser involving some gross donut behavior, the streamer also confirmed that the show will premiere on November 7th.

The show has been in the works for a while, as Apple first announced that it had picked up a Gilligan project back in 2022. It stars Rhea Seehorn, who previously worked with Gilligan on Better Call Saul. But there aren’t a lot of details other than that. According to Apple, the show — which is already confirmed for a second season –is about “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness.” The rest of the cast includes Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, and Samba Schutte.

Apple has picked up the next show from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan. The two-season Apple TV Plus show, which Apple currently calls the “Untitled Vince Gilligan Project,” will star Rhea Seehorn, who was nominated for an Emmy for playing attorney Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul.

Apple isn’t revealing much about the series just yet, but Gilligan did share a tiny hint of what we can expect. “After fifteen years, I figured it was time to take a break from writing antiheroes… and who’s more heroic than the brilliant Rhea Seehorn?” Gilligan said in a statement. “It’s long past time she had her own show, and I feel lucky to get to work on it with her.” Gilligan will be serving as showrunner and executive producer.