Pluribus creator and executive producer Vince Gilligan learned a big lesson about saying too much about a series when he answered questions about the meaning of his first big hit, Breaking Bad. “I was always talking about ‘this is what this means. No, you’re wrong and don’t interpret it that way.’ And that was a mistake on my part. I want the people who watched the show to tell me what it means. I really think they know better than I do,” he says now.
“We make the show. I can’t see the forest for the trees when we’re making it, but I like the idea of other people interpreting it for me. I think everyone else’s interpretation of this thing is way more interesting than mine is.” And indeed it is a rich concept that has viewers wondering if it is saying profound things about the effects of the pandemic, AI, immigration and other topics of the day. The fact is Gilligan came up with the idea 10 years ago and has been refining it in his head ever since. He welcomes every interpretation.
Gilligan joined his cast for a conversation Sunday at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio to talk about Pluribus, his latest series following massive hits Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. This one is a genre-breaking science fiction drama in which a global virus has turned almost all human beings into a hive mentality of shared bliss. A few have somehow missed catching it and are now fighting back, notably Carol (Rhea Seehorn), a novelist who must try to save the world from this newfound happiness.
Gilligan and Seehorn participated in the Contenders discussion with co-stars Karolina Wydra, who plays Zosia, Carlos-Manuel Vesga as Manousos, and guest star Jeff Hiller as Larry. All have received Emmy nominations along with the series, which landed 18 nominations overall including for Gilligan in the writing and directing categories.
Watch their conversation below and scroll down for photos from the event.
Originally, Gilligan’s thought was for the Carol role to be a man, but when he started actually writing it was Seehorn he had in mind. For Seehorn, who had an acclaimed supporting role in Better Call Saul, and for whom this is her first starring role on a series, it is especially sweet, even being called by her character name on the street.
“Yeah, it is my first lead role, and it’s been so much fun. And yes, I got a couple of ‘Hello, Carol’s now and then in grocery stores, which is pretty funny, but the fans have actually been amazing,” she said. “And the fact that the show, including what Vince is saying, that it is open to interpretation and has engendered really nuanced conversations and these amazing wild swings that take some tone from having comedy to having deep psychological drama and questions and stuff, just makes people actually come up to me with really interesting opinions about the show, and they feel very invested and they feel very invested in the character. And I feel very lucky that it is something that we made, that we’ve made to the best of our abilities, and so we were all so proud of it.”
Wydra felt an immediate connection with Seehorn’s Carol. “What I love about it is that Zosia is there to provide for Carol everything that she needs. I’m there to protect you. I’m there to make you feel seen and good. And it was great to play someone that doesn’t have the full spectrum of emotion, someone that you know is joyous, unflappable, and you know have these beautiful scenes with you where you have these feelings,” she said.
Vesga, the first male Colombian actor to be nominated for an Emmy, plays a man, like Carol, who has not been infected and feels very much alone. It is something he has felt in his own way being someone from another country suddenly in America and playing a role like this. “I would love to say that I was dreaming about this, but I wouldn’t even allow myself to dream this. It wasn’t a possibility. I’m just saying that this doesn’t happen to a Colombian actor, and it did,” he said, praising on Gilligan making it happen for him.
Jeff Hiller, who won an Emmy last year for Somebody, Somewhere and co-stars in another big nominated show this season Widow’s Bay, also from Apple TV, was to say the least surprised by his Guest Male Actor in a Drama Series Emmy nomination for Pluribus since the role doesn’t last more than seven minutes of screen time, and he says he really had no idea what it was about when called in to play it. He gives much credit to Seehorn and some behind the scenes artisans for being so generous.
“Well, it’s always hard to be a guest star, and it’s especially hard to be a guest star on a show that has this complicated of a premise. And the only way that it worked is because Rhea gave up a Sunday, a very precious day off on this very grueling shoot, invited me over, and we rehearsed for, like, hours.” he said, also noting other women on the team who helped that dya. “It was the gift of of those three women on a Sunday afternoon that made the performance.”
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