Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus Just Set a Record Breaking Bad Never Reached

Vince Gilligan just pulled off something even Breaking Bad never did: his new Apple TV+ series, Pluribus, opened at a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yes, that is a very Gilligan move, and yes, the premise is as odd as it sounds.

So, what is Pluribus?

Rhea Seehorn leads the show, which premiered November 7, 2025, and is rolling out a 9-episode first season. It is officially titled Pluribus (stylized as PLUR1BUS), and the vibe is sci-fi drama stitched together with a philosophical comedy streak. Think big questions about collective joy and personal identity, wrapped in something that feels a little Twilight Zone-ish and a little uncomfortably relevant.

"The most miserable person on Earth" gets tasked with "saving the world from happiness."

That premise is bizarre on purpose, and it lets Gilligan step away from the crime sandbox without losing the precision that made his earlier shows pop. He created this after Better Call Saul and cast Seehorn specifically for this role, which tells you how central she is to what the show is doing.

The Rotten Tomatoes splash

At launch, Pluribus landed a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes from 23 reviews. Early reactions are all about the show’s inventive swing, Gilligan’s direction, and Seehorn’s performance. It also drew a rush of day-one attention on Apple TV+, which is not nothing for a brand-new non-franchise series.

How it stacks up against Gilligan’s other series

Gilligan’s résumé is ridiculous, but not all of his shows started perfect out of the gate. Here’s where the big ones landed at debut, and how Pluribus compares:

• Pluribus (2025) - 100%: Latest series, one episode out so far, loud debut on Apple TV+.
• Better Call Saul (2015) - 97% for Season 1: Critically adored prequel; it famously never had a season dip below 97%.
• Breaking Bad (2008) - 86% for Season 1: The opening run was well-liked, but the show didn’t hit perfection until later; Seasons 3 and 4 both scored 100%.
• The Lone Gunmen (2001) - 38%: Co-created by Gilligan and spun off from The X-Files; critics were not into it.

Why this is interesting for Gilligan fans

Gilligan is best known for crime dramas, sure, but he has sci-fi in his DNA going back to early work like Space Wreck and, of course, The X-Files. Pluribus makes that lineage obvious. It is a tonal pivot without feeling like he left his storytelling toolbox behind, and the early love suggests the gamble is paying off.

The bottom line

Pluribus is off to a pristine start with critics, and it is already giving Rhea Seehorn another showcase. If you want something heady, slightly dystopian, and weird in a good way, this is that. Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV+ in the U.S.