Why Vince Gilligan's Pluribus Hit Pause Before It Even Began
Vince Gilligan’s next act hit a wall: production on Pluribus was shut down by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator had sold the Apple TV+ series in 2022 with a rare two-season order.
Vince Gilligan has a new series on the way, and the premise is so wild I had to read it twice: a miserable person trying to save humanity from forced happiness. Yep, that tracks for the guy behind Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
What Pluribus is about (and who is in it)
Pluribus stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, a best-selling historical romance author who, for reasons not immediately clear, seems to be the only person on Earth immune to a mysterious virus that turns everyone else into content, optimistic citizens. Content as in satisfied, not the stuff you scroll past on your phone. Gilligan, who also executive produces, summed it up like this:
'The drama of the show is that the world's most miserable person is desperately trying to save the planet from happiness,' Gilligan told Entertainment Weekly.
It's a sci-fi drama, it's nine episodes, and Apple TV+ recently dropped the first official trailer with Seehorn front and center.
Release plan on Apple TV+
Pluribus premieres Friday, November 7, 2025, on Apple TV+. The first two episodes land together and both are written and directed by Gilligan. After that, new episodes roll out weekly on Fridays, leading to the season finale on December 26, 2025.
- Episode 1 — TBA — November 7, 2025
- Episode 2 — TBA — November 7, 2025
- Episode 3 — TBA — November 14, 2025
- Episode 4 — TBA — November 21, 2025
- Episode 5 — TBA — November 28, 2025
- Episode 6 — TBA — December 5, 2025
- Episode 7 — TBA — December 12, 2025
- Episode 8 — TBA — December 19, 2025
- Episode 9 — TBA — December 26, 2025
How we got here
Gilligan pitched Pluribus in 2022 and quickly locked in a two-season deal at Apple TV+. Then came the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, which shut down writing from May 2 through September 27, 2023. Gilligan said at the time that the writers were close to the finish line when everything paused, and that when the strike ended he planned to reopen the room in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks to get the last two episodes in shape himself. Cameras finally started rolling in February 2024 in Albuquerque, because of course a Gilligan show finds its way back to New Mexico.
Season 2 status
The show is already renewed for Season 2 thanks to that initial two-season order. No details yet on what Season 2 will cover or when it will arrive.