The 'Breaking Bad' Creator Discloses He Has a Plan for How His Sci-Fi Series Might Finish... For Now.
Vince Gilligan never anticipated that the Apple TV+ show would turn into a breakout success. “The viewers have been incredible,” he remarks. “I did not foresee the show being as passionately debated as it is, and it makes me deliriously happy.”
With the first season of the popular program reaching its finale—and Season 2 greenlit and underway—the creative team opened up about the audience reaction and whether it will impact the future direction of Pluribus.
On the Overwhelming Viewer Reception
One could easily to get swayed by the widespread acclaim and online debates regarding Pluribus. The creator is making a conscious effort to avoid both.
“The experience is akin to force fed your favorite dessert and being tickled to death,” he describes. “It's wonderful, but I hear about it from others, and that's by design. I have never searched for my own name online, nor do I ever plan to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a deep trap I know I would fall into and then I'd be never leaving the house from the hardware store and I'd rarely emerge from my living room.”
Regardless of trying to stay away, there’s no escaping the extremely enthusiastic response to the series. The most practical strategy is to take it in stride and try not to let it dictate the story of the show.
“It is not our goal to adjust our writing,” says Alison Tatlock. “Our storytelling is not changed by audience chatter.”
“It's wiser to keep our focus on the work,” Gilligan adds.
The Big Question: Does the creator Have a Plan for the Ending of Pluribus?
So if Gilligan and his team aren't taking cues by audience theories, does it imply they have mapped out how Pluribus will finally conclude? Essentially yes… in a way.
“We've developed some interesting ideas about how the story could conclude,” Gilligan says. “but we are always ready to abandon a good idea for a better idea. This approach has served us in well on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We change course when we find a more perfect path and I imagine we will be doing that.”
Then again, if all else fails, executive producer Gordon Smith has a rather amusing idea to serve as a last resort.
“My recurring proposal is that everything takes place within a snow globe, and that we'll pull back at the end and that's where they've been all along,” Smith jokes, “but nobody's taking me up on that.”
Then again, why not reference the legendary finales?
“I'd love for Carol to wake up in bed next to Bob Newhart,” Gilligan adds, smiling.
Pluribus can be watched on Apple TV+.
