Vince Gilligan’s ‘Pluribus’ on Apple TV ‘is a dazzling piece of entertainment’ – Rolling Stone

“Pluribus” premieres Friday, November 7 on Apple TV.
“Pluribus” is Apple TV’s the highly anticipated drama hailing from writer and director Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad” and co-creator of “Better Call Saul.” Starring Rhea Seehorn, who earned two Emmy nominations for her acclaimed performance in “Better Call Saul,” the nine-episode drama series will make its global debut on Apple TV with its first two episodes on Friday, November 7, 2025, followed by new episodes every Friday through December 26th.
Picked up in a two-season order, “Pluribus” is a genre-bending original in which Carol, the most miserable person on Earth, must save the world from happiness. In addition to Seehorn, the series stars Karolina Wydra (“Sneaky Pete”) and Carlos-Manuel Vesga (“The Hijacking of Flight 601”), and guest stars Miriam Shor (“American Fiction”) and Samba Schutte (“Our Flag Means Death”).

Alan Sepinwall for Rolling Stone:
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Pluribus has a reported budget of $15 million per episode, five times more than what the average Breaking Bad cost. That’s not quite as high as shows like House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but those are based on proven IP, at a moment when the industry seems afraid to spend big on anything but brand names. Pluribus, on the other hand, is a wholly original concept — one so strange and specific, I’m barely allowed to say anything about it, save that, as Apple TV+ describes it, the aforementioned most miserable person on Earth “must save the world from happiness.” Our cranky heroine is played by Saul alum Rhea Seehorn, beloved by fans of the spin-off but far from a household name. Without a big star, without a familiar title, and with a premise that Gilligan wanted kept under wraps until the Nov. 7 premiere, Apple TV+ is gambling a lot of money that merely saying they have a new series from the creator of Breaking Bad will be enough to draw people in.
“When you put it that way, you kind of scared me,” says Gilligan.
He shouldn’t be scared. Pluribus is a dazzling piece of entertainment. It takes advantage of everything Gilligan learned about patient storytelling with Breaking Bad and Saul, then combines it with the high-concept ambition of X-Files, as well as the visual flair Gilligan has developed as a director on all his shows. Though the plot involves every person on the planet, the focus is often entirely on Carol, as Gilligan relies on all the things he realized Seehorn could do — tragedy, slapstick, and sheer screen presence — during her time playing attorney Kim Wexler on Saul. There are long stretches where we’re just watching Carol struggle through various tasks, like digging a grave. And it’s riveting.

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MacDailyNews Take: The potential is there for Apple TV to have a Severance-like breakout hit with Pluribus!
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