Vince Gilligan Trades Bad Guys for Good Vibes in His New Sci-Fi Series PLURIBUS
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul mastermind Vince Gilligan is flipping the script with his upcoming sci-fi series Pluribus. After spending years exploring the moral decay of anti-heroes like Walter White and Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, Gilligan says he’s ready for something completely different, something a little more hopeful.
“I was getting a little weary of writing bad guys – I was looking around at the world and it just feels like a lot of people, not naming any names, but a lot of people seem to publicly take a lot of delight in taking the way they behave in life, taking their cues from people like Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone and Walter White, even,” Gilligan told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I can't speak for those other show and movie creators but for me, Walter White was always meant to be a cautionary tale; he's not aspirational,” he continued.
“I would never tell any other writer what they should be writing and there's a lot of good bad guys left to write and I'm sure there will be a lot of great ones created from here on into eternity, but I figure for me I was ready to write something a little different.”
That “something different” is Pluribus, a mysterious Apple TV+ sci-fi drama starring Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, a woman who’s somehow immune to a global virus that turns the rest of humanity into perfectly happy people.
The concept sounds wild, but in true Gilligan fashion, it’s sure to dig deeper into human nature, morality, and what it truly means to be “good.”
Gilligan’s shift away from morally gray territory isn’t sudden. Earlier this year, he reflected on pop culture’s long love affair with villains, saying, “For decades, we made the villains too sexy. I really think that.
“When we create characters as indelible as Michael Corleone or Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader or Tony Soprano, viewers everywhere, all around the world, they pay attention. They say, ‘Man, those dudes are badass. I want to be that cool.’
“When that happens, fictional bad guys stop being the cautionary player that they were created to be. God help us, they become aspirational. So maybe what the world needs now are some good, old fashioned, Greatest Generation types who give more than they take. Who think that kindness, tolerance and sacrifice aren't strictly for chumps.”
That philosophy could be at the heart of Pluribus. While Gilligan hasn’t shared many plot details, he’s made it clear that this project is bigger and more ambitious than anything he’s done before.
“The scope of it is globetrotting, world-spanning. I think we've learned – my producers and I, together – to be better producers over the years… The size of this thing is not something we would have attempted or could have succeeded at maybe five or 10 years ago.”
With Pluribus, Gilligan is setting his sights on something more aspirational, maybe even healing. Fans will find out what that looks like when Pluribus premieres on Apple TV+ on November 7.