Pluribus Writer’s Bold Reason for Keeping the Show Under Wraps

Vince Gilligan has a new mystery box on his hands with 'Pluribus', and the team behind it is not interested in handing out cheat sheets. Writer-director Gordon Smith just made it clear he is absolutely not going to tell you what the show is 'about' in big neon letters — on purpose.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Emmy-nominated screenwriter said spelling out the grand takeaway would undercut the whole point of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi ride. His logic: once you label a story with one neat meaning, you shrink it.

"If I said that it’s a metaphor about not using your phone, you don’t need to watch the show. The show becomes useless. The show becomes meaningless."

Smith pushed back on the idea of any one-to-one metaphor. He even called out how different viewers — say, folks who are pro-AI — might watch and feel either attacked or validated, and he’s fine with that. Locking the show to one reading would, in his words, limit the storytelling and choke off the questions it was designed to raise. He wants a truly conceptual series that lets different people think and feel different things.

If you haven’t caught up yet, here’s the setup, which is both very simple and very odd in a way that begs for theories:

• Premise: On a version of Earth, an extraterrestrial virus wipes out everyone’s individuality, merging the population into a peaceful, content hive mind — except for 13 people who remain themselves.
• Lead: Rhea Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, a fantasy romance author who, for reasons nobody understands (including her), is immune.
• Platform: It’s an Apple TV series.

Seehorn told Entertainment Weekly she was discovering the story’s meaning in real time like the rest of us, saying she was playing a character who has no idea what’s happening because she, Rhea, didn’t either. That’s not coy marketing — it’s the creative choice. The show is built to be read, debated, argued over.

So if you’re waiting for a press-tour thesis statement, don’t. Smith isn’t giving you a decoder ring. 'Pluribus' is meant to be lived with, not solved in a pull quote — which, frankly, is the most interesting way to do this kind of high-concept sci-fi.