After years of rumors and cryptic social media posts, we’re finally getting a glimpse, albeit a very faint one, at Vince Gilligan’s long-brewing Apple TV+ series. Announced way back in 2022 with little more than a logline and Rhea Seehorn in the cast, the show now has a title: “Pluribus,” and a release date: November 7.
That’s pretty much all we know.
The new series marks Gilligan’s return following the one-two punch that was “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” and like the latter, “Pluribus” stars Seehorn, whose performance as Kim Wexler is still very fresh in my mind.
Now, she steps into what Gilligan has called a “more heroic” lead role—though how exactly that plays out remains a mystery. The logline, in true Gilligan fashion, is cryptic to the point of abstraction: “A genre-bending original in which the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.” Make of that what you will.
A teaser dropped alongside the premiere date, offering little beyond the phrase: “Happiness is contagious.” The first image of Seehorn’s character, shared by Apple, is striking but tells us next to nothing. They’re just letting the vibes do the marketing, for now.
Gilligan has described the series as written specifically for Seehor. One major shift from the Breaking Bad universe? The moral center. While Walter White and Jimmy McGill were exercises in villainous leads,” Pluribus” is being framed as, in Gilligan’s words, about the “good guys.”
Gilligan’s track record speaks for itself, but “Pluribus” arrives with high expectations and very little revealed. Regardless, this is a big test for Gilligan as his last two acclaimed shows were very much part of the same universe. The showrunner is now branching out into what is rumored to be a sci-fi project.
Joining Seehorn in the cast are Karolina Wydra and Carlos-Manuel Vesga, with Miriam Shor and Samba Schutte appearing in guest roles. They filmed 10 episodes. Gilligan has hinted that the project felt like a return to his roots (“The X-Files”).