About ten years ago Vince Gilligan — the mind behind Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul — sketched a singular premise that eventually became his new science‑fiction series, Pluribus. Its compact logline captures the oddness of the idea: “The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.” Translating that striking sentence into a televisual reality required patience, persistence and a little serendipity.
Gilligan says he often finds himself stumbling into projects. He remembers beginning nearly a decade ago with a simple, strange image: a man who, for reasons unknown, becomes universally adored. No matter how he behaved, people remained infatuated with him — eager to do his bidding and resistant to criticism. That irresistible, baffling dynamic lodged in Gilligan’s imagination and refused to leave.
Image: Apple
The germ of the idea surfaced as Breaking Bad wrapped and Better Call Saul began. With a major hit behind him and a new show already underway, Gilligan had the breathing room to let the concept simmer and evolve.
“I started noodling on this during lunch breaks on Better Call Saul,” he says, recalling how he tried to find a plausible mechanism for the phenomenon. After experimenting with different approaches, he concluded the premise demanded a genre that could accommodate the inexplicable — science fiction — because the effect couldn’t be explained by ordinary means.
For now, some answers remain just out of reach; the series title itself might hint at what Gilligan eventually settled on, and he has teased a few additional influences and ideas in interviews. For more on those inspirations, see his comments here.
Image: AMC
The crucial turning point came with casting. As Better Call Saul developed, Gilligan grew increasingly fond of Rhea Seehorn’s work as Kim Wexler. He decided to reframe the protagonist as female and to write the series with Seehorn in mind — a move that transformed the project from a thought experiment into something realizable.
In short, Pluribus is the product of time, freedom and a willingness to let an odd little notion expand. Gilligan didn’t set out to craft science fiction so much as he allowed the idea to find the form that could sustain it.
Pluribus premieres Nov. 7 on Apple TV.
Source: Polygon
