{"id":390899,"date":"2026-01-26T06:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T06:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390899\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T06:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T06:39:13","slug":"karolina-wydra-on-her-triumphant-return-to-acting-with-pluribus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390899\/","title":{"rendered":"Karolina Wydra On Her Triumphant Return To Acting With \u2018Pluribus\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGrowing up in Soviet-era and sparsely populated Opole, Poland, actress Karolina Wydra<\/a> recalls a childhood of paucity when it came to recreation: There simply wasn\u2019t much to do in her small village \u2014 except on the monthly occasions residents would gather to watch bootleg videos of American imports, which were pirated by samaritans recording theatrical screens with handheld cameras. Particularly impressionable to her at the time were Dirty Dancing (spurring her to take ballroom dancing lessons) and Prince\u2019s Purple Rain \u2014 both projected on a simple white sheet in a makeshift viewing room.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverything was very controlled and theater\u00a0\u2014 there wasn\u2019t much of any of it \u2014 but if I could get in a play in school, I would, and I used to represent my school for reciting poetry; that was a big thing,\u201d Wydra, who now counts Jennifer Grey a friend, tells Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\tA self-described \u201cdaydreamer\u201d and Pisces (when I tell her I have two in my immediate family, she says, \u201cOh, Lord, God bless you. Oof \u2014 a lot of feelings\u201d), Wydra has been a lifelong \u201clover of this medium. I always loved acting. I love what it did to me, how it transported me into this fantasy world, and it made me forget my life for a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter her family emigrated to the U.S., Wydra\u2019s forayed into the entertainment industry in the late \u201890s as a model, gracing the cover of German Elle and being featured in major ad campaigns, including a notable 2006 appearance opposite George Clooney in a sultry TV spot for Nespresso. While living in New York in her 20s, she was an \u201cavid theater goer\u201d and studied drama; calling it her favorite medium today, she finds the performance process \u201cincredibly healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe has been acting for the better part of three decades, scooping up roles in film (Crazy, Stupid, Love) and TV (House, True Blood, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and working with heavyweights like Graham Yost (Justified, Sneaky Pete) and the late David Lynch (Twin Peaks). But her \u201cdream,\u201d she says, was to work with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI walked away to have children. It was very important. It was a scary decision, and it was a scary decision when your agent and your manager decides [sic] that they don\u2019t want to represent you because you\u2019re taking a long break, a long pause,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was right after COVID, and the business was changing, things were changing. I was a 40-year-old woman, and so I wasn\u2019t sure how I would ever come back when I was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFast forward several years, she received an audition request from the Pluribus<\/a> casting team, which had reached out to her former commercial agent; Wydra was no longer working with the agency, but had remained on its roster. She went in blind, and remembers hesitating to even try: What if she auditioned, got close to realizing something she truly wanted, and it didn\u2019t pan out?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKarolina Wydra as Zosia in \u2018Pluribus\u2019 (Apple TV<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\n\tShe was cast in March 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo be on this journey and how it unfolded and how it all happened, I\u2019m still pinching myself,\u201d she says. \u201cAm I getting punked? Where are the cameras and somebody going, \u2018I was just kidding?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo craft Zosia \u2014 the hive mind emissary sent by the Others to communicate with Rhea Seehorn<\/a>\u2019s survivor, the cantankerous author Carol \u2014 Wydra relied on tried-and-true acting techniques like dreamwork, leaning on a coach who studied under famed teacher Sandra Seacat<\/a>. She meditated and used Jungian techniques like active imagination to have \u201cconversations with images\u201d in her subconscious and channel \u201ca different vibration \u2026 where you really leave the body, you tap into this energy where you feel this Zen-like state and true, unconditional love for humanity, and this peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe goal was to embody the \u201ccontent and happy,\u201d \u201cunflappable\u201d creatures that compose the group, joined at the beginning of Season 1 by an extraterrestrial virus.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R): Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, Karolina Wydra as Zosia in \u2018Pluribus\u2019 (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\n\tTo create the \u201cserenity that [Zosia] embodies,\u201d Wydra also engaged in physical techniques to relax her body \u201cbecause this character doesn\u2019t have tension. She\u2019s not a robot, she\u2019s a human being, but she doesn\u2019t experience nerves. They\u2019re not afraid; this new world is not afraid. They don\u2019t feel pain. They have a memory of what it was like to be in pain, but they\u2019re not in pain. They\u2019re not angry. They have the memory of it. So everything is a memory, but they don\u2019t experience it in this new world. So doing whatever I could to be in that state. And those are the challenges in the first few days of shooting: When you feel nervous. You\u2019re like, \u2018Well, let me give it to the character.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018Well, not to this one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWydra remembers additional challenges while working with Gilligan to fine-tune Zosia\u2019s mental state in the show: \u201cThere [were] moments where I would have so much empathy for what Rhea was going through. And he would say, \u2018You can\u2019t go on that journey with her.\u2019 And it was really hard sometimes; you just felt like, \u2018But she really looks like she\u2019s suffering, and I have a lot of feelings about that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the first season of the Apple TV sci-fi dramedy progresses, Zosia shifts from maternal figure to friend to lover. Wydra says she believes being a mom helped her tap into the \u201cunconditional love and understanding\u201d the character embodies \u2014 the way a mother gives her child medicine if they\u2019re sick even if they don\u2019t want it. \u201cBut is it manipulative to get them to take it? You know what\u2019s best for them, right?\u201d she questions, adding that it\u2019s a \u201cfine line\u201d between care and deception.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the Others\u2019 inability to lie or act with supposed malice, their supreme emotional and intellectual intelligence can certainly be read as calculating<\/a>; every action is poised to accommodate or placate Carol, both a loving gesture as well as a deeply exploitative one. As such, key scenes \u2014 like Zosia\u2019s reunion with Carol, their first kiss and even the bombshell reveal of the hive mind having access to her frozen eggs<\/a> \u2014 were played and shot \u201cmany, many, many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lattermost sequence took a while, with Wydra and Seehorn\u2019s sides each taking a day of filming to complete. Wydra credits finale director and co-writer Gordon Smith for bringing flexibility to the shoot, and praises Gilligan\u2019s approach of taking a scene \u201c\u2018til it breaks\u201d to see \u201cwhere it lands.\u201d There were takes that were more maternal, more empathetic and more cautious.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSome of it would be a lot more emotional and a lot more heartfelt, and it came off more manipulative,\u201d Wydra says of the final result.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R): Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, Karolina Wydra as Zosia in \u2018Pluribus\u2019 (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\n\tOnline, some drew parallels between the heartwrenching moment<\/a>, which muddies up notions of consent, to an earlier scene in the series, where Carol reveals her mother sent her to conversion therapy camp. While the connection between the two wasn\u2019t necessarily established behind the scenes, Wydra says that interpretation \u201ctotally makes sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen anybody thinks they know better than you, game over, right? You taking somebody\u2019s will \u2014 it can be quite scary. What the character goes through, the conversion therapy, that was hard for us to film, because the fact that that stuff happens, it\u2019s just truly heartbreaking. So we had a lot of conversations about that scene,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat said, another tidbit fans have latched onto is theorizing about Zosia\u2019s past, something Carol herself breaches when she asks about previous romantic partners. Zosia seems to deliberately obfuscate who she was before, only offering that her pre-Joining significant other is no longer alive.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for theories on whether the Zosia from before is straight, Wydra can\u2019t say: \u201cThat was the thing that I didn\u2019t want to know from Vince was who Zosia was prior, just because to create her today, I didn\u2019t want the past to influence who she is today, because we don\u2019t meet the Zosia prior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdmittedly, Wydra \u2014 like Seehorn<\/a> \u2014 stays offline when it comes to the show: \u201cI read very little because I\u2019m way too sensitive and too fragile. As much as I want to be that person \u2014 \u2018I don\u2019t care what anybody thinks\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s hard not to.\u201d (I assure her I\u2019ve only seen positive reception to her portrayal.)<\/p>\n

\n\tShe adds, \u201cI do feel protective of Zosia because I had to work on all that stuff, and I had to really believe in it. [The Others] do love her. They genuinely, truly \u2014 Zosia loves her, truly loves her, and she loves her unconditionally, and she wants nothing but to make her happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R): Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, Karolina Wydra as Zosia in \u2018Pluribus\u2019 (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, the conclusion of Season 1 positions Zosia and Carol firmly on opposing sides, as the latter\u2019s last-ditch effort to succumb to her relationship with the Others is blown up when she finds out they are on track to turn her within the next couple of months. Dejected and embittered, Carol returns to her unlikely ally Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) to begrudgingly save the world. Oh, and she\u2019s brought with her a Plan B, or rather A \u2014 as in: atom bomb.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEven when I read it, I went \u2014 excuse my language \u2014 \u2018What the fuck?\u2019\u201d Wydra says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite how unforgivable the hive mind\u2019s actions are, Carol and Zosia share a piercing look \u2014 of sorrow, of regret \u2014 when they part ways.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the look is also like, \u2018Are you sure? Is this what you really want?\u2019 That moment that you have between people [where] you go: \u2018Is this it? Is there still a chance, maybe hope?\u2019\u201d Wydra explains. \u201cWe did it many different ways, and what that means for everybody: for her, for me, and, I mean, for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGilligan is already deep in Season 2 prep, with the writers\u2019 room breaking the next installment. While Wydra is happy to cheer on her co-star Seehorn, who won her category at the Golden Globes<\/a> (the actress sent the Better Call Saul alumna a video of a family viewing party featuring her husband, two kids and other young children chanting her name), she is \u201cdying\u201d to be back on set again.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have no idea what Season 2 brings, and I\u2019m really excited to find out,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t wait. I\u2019m like, \u2018Vince, can you write a little faster?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in Soviet-era and sparsely populated Opole, Poland, actress Karolina Wydra recalls a childhood of paucity when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[9265,6491,96,147312,106106,129541,56,54,55,112704],"class_list":{"0":"post-390899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-apple-tv","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-karolina-wydra","12":"tag-pluribus","13":"tag-rhea-seehorn","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-vince-gilligan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}