Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus has brought its first season to a close, but the Apple TV+ sci-fi drama leaves behind plenty of unsolved mysteries heading into season two.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, the series unfolds in a world overtaken by a mysterious power that has absorbed nearly all of humanity's individuality to create an all-knowing, insect-like hive mind, sparing only a small, immune few - 13 to be exact!
Though its surface trappings lean firmly into alien science fiction, Pluribus is also operating within a deeper thematic current, one that's using it's high sci-fi premise to examine the societal dangers of artificial intelligence and the increasing automation and isolation of modern human interaction.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
Speaking to IGN, Gilligan along with series writers and directors Gordon Smith and Alison Tatlock elaborated on the fact that Seehorn's Carol is one of only 13 people around the world that are immune to the alien virus that has turned the rest of humanity into the hive-mind Joining.
And unlike genre staples with a similar concept, such as The Last of Us, where infection transforms people into violent monsters, the Joining are calm, kind, and even welcoming toward those who remain unassimilated.
In that sense, Pluribus plays like an anti-zombie story, where instead of everyone trying to kill, eat or infect you, the infected are incredibly kind and welcoming- at least currently.
The show ends with The Others that make up the Joining, developing a pathogen that can bypass the immunity of the previously unafflicted thirteen individuals.
One of the final moments sees Carlos Manuel-Vesga's Manousos complete his multi-month journey from Paraguay to meet up with Carol with the goal of creating a team that can turn everyone back to normal.
"Nine episodes for Stanley to meet Livingston here, and it's been hard fought," said Gilligan. "He literally hacked his way through the Darién Gap just to meet this woman. And then he arrives in her neighborhood and maybe he's expecting – what we’d say in the writer's room – he's kind of expecting Che Guevara or some really charismatic leader. And in Che's driveway is a Rolls-Royce."
The show then ends with the revelation that The Others are using Carol's frozen eggs to develop a pathogen to indoctrinate her into the Joining (the benevolent hive-mind needs Carol's consent to create the pathogen but the stem cells are a workaround), something that leads Carol to recommit to the fight to restore humanity's autonomy.
Elaborating on this, Tatlock told Variety, "They don’t need consent to change people, of course, because the premise of the show — right from the pilot — is that they change everybody as quickly as possible, first by kissing and eventually by planes flying overhead. If they could put their special spice in the water, they absolutely would. What they do need is consent to intrude upon somebody’s physical being. So they couldn’t take her stem cells directly. But if her stem cells already exist — or if the eggs, which aren’t stem cells, can be converted through a tricky process into stem cells — and they’re already outside of her body, they’ll do it."
As for where she thinks her character is going in season 2, Seehorn admitted to Total Film that she has no idea.
"Maybe this makes me a horrible actor. I honestly think Carol is not sure. I didn't do it out of laziness. I did it because one of her flaws – that sometimes is a superpower – is that she's so impulsive. She's just so impulsive and acts before she thinks. I think she knows she's got to do something big, and I'm not really sure what she's going to do with it."
Already greenlit for a second season, “Pluribus” is a genre-bending original in which the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.
Despite its recent debut, the show has already picked up several high-profile awards nominations including Best Television Series – Drama and Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama from the upcoming 83rd Golden Globe Awards and similarly, Best Drama Series and Best Actress in a Drama Series from the impending Critics' Choice Television Awards.
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”).
“Pluribus” is produced by Sony Pictures Television and executive produced by Emmy Award winner Gilligan alongside WGA Award winner Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Diane Mercer, Allyce Ozarski and Jeff Frost. Jenn Carroll and Trina Siopy serve as co-executive producers.