There’s been major hype building around Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s new sci-fi series. And now, after years of bits and pieces of information being released in the press, and a dayslong countdown, we finally have our first (highly unusual) look at Pluribus.
On Tuesday, Apple teased a reveal on X with the tagline “Happiness is Contagious,” with a countdown YouTube video appearing shortly afterward. Fans have been abuzz with theories, right down to the possible connection to Gilligan’s award-winning shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
What Gilligan’s fans got was certainly unexpected. Apple TV’s first teaser for Pluribus shows a woman in medical scrubs licking donuts from a box, one by one, and putting them back, implying that she’s doing so maliciously. A sign posted under those donuts reads, “Help yourself!” and features a drawn smiley face. Beyond that, the 19 seconds of footage only appears to reveal that Pluribus will be set in Maryland, based on a state flag visible and the provider of those donuts, Sandy Pony Donuts, which has locations in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia.
The only description for Pluribus that Apple has offered is this: “The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.”
Described previously by Gilligan in an interview with Deadline as a “grounded genre drama,” Pluribus is lead by actor Rhea Seehorn, best known for her portrayal as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul. Gilligan said that he wrote the lead role for Pluribus with Seehorn in mind.
In addition to Seehorn, the series will star Karolina Wydra (Sneaky Pete) and Carlos Manuel Vesga (The Hijacking of Flight 601), and guest stars Miriam Shor (American Fiction) and Samba Schutte (Our Flag Means Death).
There’s a clear confidence from Apple that Pluribus will be the next big thing on our small silver screens, as it confirmed back in 2022 that Apple TV Plus had bought Gilligan’s newest drama for two whole seasons already. That was before the first season was even remotely close to a premiere.
The confidence is fairly warranted. Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are genre-defining, award-winning works of art, and Apple TV Plus has given us television gold with shows like Ted Lasso and Severance. Pluribus has big shoes to fill, but it’ll probably manage it just fine.
Pluribus will debut on Apple TV Plus on Nov. 7 with a two-episode premiere. New episodes will follow weekly each Friday through Dec. 26.