Why Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus Isn’t The Walking Dead Or The Last of Us

I love a good end-of-the-world story, but Vince Gilligan just looked at the genre, shrugged, and said: what if the apocalypse made people nicer? Apple TV+ drops his new series, Pluribus, on November 7, 2025, and it is very much not The Walking Dead or The Last of Us. Same bleak setup, wildly different moral dilemma.

Spoiler alert: I am going to explain the core premise. If you want to go in cold, bail now.

So what is it?

Pluribus takes place in Gilligan's old Albuquerque stomping grounds and follows a tiny pocket of people who didn’t catch an alien-born virus. Most of humanity did get it, though, and they did not turn into monsters. They became the Others: a calm, blissed-out collective who remember their lives, still think clearly, and honestly believe they’re helping by trying to fold the last holdouts into the hive.

"When you watch The Walking Dead, when you watch The Last of Us – really great shows – there’s no question about it, you don’t want to be zombie. You don’t want to be a mushroom person. But in this show, the point of the set-up is that back-and-forth, potentially, for you the audience to say 'OK, this is really bad, you’d lose your individuality.' But then maybe in an episode or two you’re thinking 'I don’t know, there’s a lot to be said for this.' But then an episode later 'No, maybe not so much.'"

That’s Gilligan, via Dexerto, planting the flag. The show wants you arguing with yourself about whether the Others are scary or kind of... appealing.

The twist on the end times

Here’s the curveball: the virus was built in a lab from an extraterrestrial RNA sequence. It rewires the human brain toward connection and cooperation. The instant side effects? No war. No crime. Society still functions, just without individuality as we know it. The CBC’s Commotion podcast zeroed in on that framing: the infected present as benevolent, not monstrous. Over in Men's Health, Gilligan boiled it down to a cheeky thesis: his infected aren’t zombies, robots, or aliens; they’re happy people. That’s the nightmare for some, the dream for others.

Who we’re following

The show centers on Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), a prickly romance novelist who belongs to a very exclusive club: 13 people, period, who are immune worldwide. She and a handful of other uninfected types scrape by in Albuquerque while the Others keep politely offering eternal contentment. It’s less run-and-gun survival horror and more philosophical tug-of-war with the occasional sprint.

• Series: Pluribus
• Creator: Vince Gilligan
• Cast: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, James Ponsoldt
• Episodes: 9 in Season 1
• Status: Season 2 already ordered after a two-episode premiere
• Where to watch: Apple TV+
• Premiere date: November 7, 2025

How it’s landing

Critics jumped on this fast. After the two-episode premiere, Apple went ahead and renewed it for Season 2 (per The Hollywood Reporter). As of now, it’s sitting at a 100 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and keeps popping up on Best TV of 2025 lists. The BBC called it one of the year’s smartest shows, and that tracks: the series leans into the ethics debate way more than blood-and-guts spectacle. It keeps asking the uncomfortable question: if you remove choice but guarantee happiness, is that a good life?

The big question

Would you trade your individuality for guaranteed peace and constant happiness in a hive mind? Or keep your messy, stubborn self and take your chances? I’m curious where you land.

Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV+.