It’s been 10 years in the making, but finally Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s new sci-fi show Pluribus is almost here – you can see it on Friday 7 Nov. And we’re excited. Starring Rhea Seehorn, the show’s tagline is, “The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.” It follows author Carol (Seehorn), who is seemingly immune to a virus that makes everyone else placidly happy and positive.
But what is it about and why should we watch? Even the trailers for the show don’t reveal much more of the story, and the show’s marketing campaign has been shrouded in secrecy, which is intentional, according to its creator:
“I want people going into it knowing as little as possible,” Gilligan explained to Inverse. “Some people don’t roll that way. Some people want to know the ending before the beginning. Different strokes for different folks, but that’s not my jam. I like knowing as little as possible. So I’m trying to extend that to the audience.”
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The nine-part drama is centred around a new antihero for our times – a central female protagonist called Carol Sturka. She is a romance author and “the most miserable person on Earth”.
The fact that the show is from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan means that the storytelling is pretty much guaranteed to be taut and gripping, even with the science-fiction twist.
Pluribus’ cast: who’s in it?
Sturka is played by Rhea Seehorn, who viewers will recognise from her role as Kim Wexler in Gilligan’s brilliant series Better Call Saul.
Apple TV
Gilligan, who also worked on The X Files, originally planned for the lead character to be a man, having started playing with the idea for the new show during his lunchbreaks on Better Called Saul.
“I started off almost 10 years ago with this vague idea about a male protagonist who everybody suddenly, inexplicably was very, very nice to,” he revealed. “He didn’t do anything particularly much to deserve everybody’s love and affection, but everybody suddenly loves this guy. They will do anything for him.
“A lot of us spend our days worrying about being likeable. And what has set us free in the writers room, at first with Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, and now with Rhea Seehorn playing Carol Sturka, we don’t worry about it. We just go where the story takes us.”
A big part of making the main character female was also down to casting Rhea. “At about the same time, in the early seasons of Better Call Saul, I realized how much I love Rhea Seehorn,” Gilligan said. “So I decided: let’s make it a female protagonist. I want to write this thing for Rhea. She deserves to be the star of her own show.”
Apple TV
Breaking Bad fans my find another point of familiarity: it all takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the setting for Walter White’s criminal exploits.
Alongside Seehorn, Pluribus stars Karolina Wydra (Sneaky Pete) and Carlos-Manuel Vesga (The Hijacking of Flight 601), with guest stars Miriam Shor (American Fiction) and Samba Schutte (Our Flag Means Death).
Pluribus premieres Nov 7 on Apple TV.
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