The Showrunner Reveals He Knows How His Sci-Fi Series Will End... For Now.
The creative mastermind never anticipated that Pluribus would emerge as a breakout success. “I am so grateful to the audience,” he remarks. “I did not foresee the show being as passionately debated as it is, and it makes me overjoyed.”
With the first season of the popular series coming to an end—and a second season greenlit and underway—the creative team opened up about the audience reaction and whether it will impact the storyline of Pluribus.
On the Incredible Fan Response
It would be easy to get distracted by the widespread acclaim and audience predictions surrounding Pluribus. Gilligan, however, is making a conscious effort to ignore the noise.
“The experience is akin to constantly eating something incredibly sweet and being in a state of bliss,” he says. “It's amazing, but I hear about it through word of mouth, and that's intentional. Never in my life searched for my own name online, nor do I ever plan to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a deep trap I know I would fall into and then I'd be never leaving the house from Home Depot and I'd be stuck in my living room.”
Regardless of trying to stay away, there’s no way to avoid the immensely favorable response to the series. The best he and his team can do is to take it in stride and try not to let it influence the direction of the show.
“It is not our goal to change the plot,” says Alison Tatlock. “The plot we develop is not influenced by what people are saying.”
“It's wiser to keep our heads down and working,” he chimes in.
A Pressing Query: Does the showrunner See the Finale of Pluribus?
Given that the creative staff aren’t being guided by audience theories, does that mean they have mapped out how Pluribus will finally conclude? The answer is yes… in a way.
“We've developed some interesting ideas about how the story could conclude,” he states. “but we are always ready to discard a solid concept for a more brilliant plan. This approach has served us in excellent shape on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We scrap ideas when we conceive of something superior and I imagine we will be doing that.”
Alternatively, if they hit a wall, director and writer Gordon Smith has a rather amusing idea to fall back on.
“I constantly suggest that it's all in a snow globe, and that we'll reveal the snow globe and the characters are inside it,” he says humorously, “but no one is buying it.”
Alternatively, why mess with the legendary finales?
“I want Carol to awaken next to Bob Newhart,” Gilligan says with a smile.
Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV+.