Why Breaking Bad Creator’s New Pluribus TV Series Accidentally Became a Sci-Fi Project

Fans know Vince Gilligan best as the mastermind behind crime dramas like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” but his new 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 happenings just beyond the life of main character Carol Sturka (played by “Better Call Saul” star Rhea Seehorn). But, beyond the vague notion of something seriously wrong in this world, viewers have been left completely in the dark about what’s really going on. According to Gilligan, this happened in a slightly circular fashion.

Unlike his best-known work, Gilligan’s journey to bringing “Pluribus” to a television screen near you has been decidedly less straightforward than the arcs experienced by Walter White or Jimmy McGill. In a stark contrast to the drug cartels and hitmen that make up his previous two shows, “Pluribus” takes a much more in-depth approach — one that might remind some viewers of his past contributions as a writer on “The X-Files,” in fact. But, as Gilligan tells it, it took him a while to realize where he wanted to take things this time around. In a spoiler-free interview with The Verge, the creator and writer talked about telling a sci-fi story that he didn’t necessarily intend to. As he said:

“I didn’t make a conscious decision to do another science fiction series. I realized there was no other way to explain events than science fiction.”

How can we talk about a show shrouded in almost total secrecy until now? For those who don’t want to know anything about the basic framework of “Pluribus”, perhaps take the opportunity to exit the left step and continue on your merry way. To anyone 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 noted that his overall vision for “Pluribus” came to him while filming “Better Call Saul” nearly a decade ago. During his lunch breaks, he would take long walks away from production and end up thinking about a particular idea that he couldn’t get out of his mind. The end result would become the fundamental premise of her next show, in which the perpetually unhappy Carol suddenly finds herself surrounded by people who only want to treat her nicely, for whatever reason. Gilligan revealed:

“It almost started as a daydream. I was thinking about this guy and he lived in a world where everyone was nice to him all the time. And it’s not that he was a particularly good guy, or particularly special. He was just a normal guy. But all of a sudden he wakes up one day and everyone likes him. And that idea tickled me, it never went away.”

Obviously, Gilligan ultimately chose to turn “that guy” into a woman played by Rhea Seehorn, and the rest is history…or might soon be, at least. Do we have our next “Breaking Bad”-level hit “Better Call Saul” on our hands? Find out when “Pluribus” premieres on November 7, 2025 on Apple TV.