If you were one of the, er, many who watched Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s new sci-fi thriller series premiere on Apple TV last night, you might be feeling the same as me and the vast majority of critics out there: this could be the streamer’s best show since Severance.
A bold statement, I know, but it’s been some time since I’ve clicked with a new show’s premise like this, and so soon (well, maybe since Severance). So much so that by the end of episode one, Gilligan’s haunting upside-down happy face of a show had me, like the show’s protagonist Carol, wrestling with the existential question: would the world be more or less horrifying if everyone just got along?
With a whole season of Pluribus left to go, and knowing Gilligan, I’m curious and a bit terrified to find out.
What’s a pluribus, and what is Pluribus?
Gilligan’s track record with culture-shifting hits like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul goes without saying, but let’s take a second to remember that the prolific writer/producer/director has roots in one of the best sci-fi shows of all time: The X-Files. It remains to be seen how deep and dark Pluribus might get, but Gilligan might be forgiven for taking a breather from all the meth, crime, and violence.
The title of the show itself is a clever setup for it. Taken from the Latin “E pluribus unum,” which means “out of many, one,” Pluribus (officially, Plur1bus) is about the world and what happens when an alien virus we intercept from deep space somehow reprograms the minds of everyone on Earth, uniting us as one hive collective, and making us all happy. Well, everyone except Carol (Better Call Saul‘s superb Rhea Seehorn), a rich and miserable bestselling romance novelist who is somehow the only person in the United States immune to the virus.
Carol’s life becomes a living nightmare. The virus kills her wife (Miriam Shor), and many others (gotta break a few eggs), and all of humanity is laser-focused on helping Carol with her every little need as they try to find a “cure” for her resistance to the virus. By the end of episode one, we also learn that Carol isn’t, in fact, alone—there are 11 others like her on the planet, and I cannot wait to meet them, and the other characters Gilligan has in store, too.
The Pluribus premiere hooked me
Well on its way to a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so far, critics have bathed the series in praise. Apple TV also briefly went down in parts of the U.S. and Canada shortly after the premiere of the hugely anticipated show, but it wasn’t made clear if a spike in viewership was the cause.
I didn’t experience the outage myself, which is lucky because I was enthralled. In much the same way as Severance, Pluribus has hooked me into its unique socio-cultural premise. While the former asks whether you’d be happier if you could sever your work self from your home self, the latter explores if it would be better to give up your individuality, and your god-given right to be a grumpy, angry, prick, should you choose, if the world could live in collective harmony.
As the premiere episode unfolds, the audience gets to experience the creepy, pandemic-like effects of the alien virus from Carol’s perspective as it takes hold of the population—in normal places like a bar, a parking lot, a hospital. I hesitate calling Pluribus a zombie show, but I don’t know what’s scarier, brain-eating undead or shiny happy groups of people chanting in unison, “We just want to help, Carol.”
Gilligan’s pacing in episode one is spot on, and the show does a great job at building the weirdly quiet world we find ourselves in. We feel Carol’s fear as she curls up in the fetal position on her couch, and we all try to make sense of things together. Yep, I’m in.
Rhea Seehorn finally gets her spotlight
For those unfamiliar with Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn, she was once an underappreciated pillar holding Better Call Saul so high up on its pedestal. Her performance as attorney Kim Wexler, the moral counterbalance to Bob Odenkirk’s sleazy Jimmy, was overlooked by the Emmys until season six of the acclaimed show, when Seehorn finally got a nod for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. While she lost to Ozark‘s Julia Garner, it was still clear that Seehorn was poised for bigger things.
Clearly, Gilligan agreed, handing Seehorn a vehicle for her talents. Pluribus is glued to Carol—it’s really all about her— and is largely a solo showcase of Seehorn’s versatility as she delivers a performance full of overwhelming emotional drama mixed with brilliantly sarcastic comedy. Sure, we’re going to meet more rich characters along the way (such as Karolina Wydra’s hive mind representative Zosia), but I, for one, welcome Seehorn’s overdue place at the top of Pluribus‘s callsheet.
What’s next and when do new episodes land?
The first two episodes of Pluribus are currently streaming on Apple TV, with a third episode scheduled for November 14, and weekly after that for its nine-episode run. Looking ahead, we can expect Carol to head to Europe to meet some of the other immune strangers, as she learns that they might not all have the same outlook on the situation she does.
Pluribus
- Release Date
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November 6, 2025
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Writers
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Ariel Levine
If the critics are right, Pluribus could be Apple TV’s biggest hit since Severance. The streaming service, which doesn’t have nearly the breadth of content that its competitors does, continues to have some of the best shows available of any streaming service.