The acclaimed writer-producer never anticipated that Pluribus would turn into a breakout success. “The viewers have been incredible,” he remarks. “I was surprised by the show being as talked about as it is, and it makes me thrilled beyond words.”
As the debut season of the popular series coming to an end—and the next chapter already in development—Gilligan and his team recently discussed the viewer reception and whether it will shape the narrative path of Pluribus.
Regarding the Overwhelming Fan Response
It would be easy to get swayed by the rampant praise and online debates about Pluribus. Gilligan, however, is making a conscious effort to avoid both.
“The experience is akin to an endless supply of something incredibly sweet and being laughing uncontrollably,” he describes. “It's amazing, but I hear about it anecdotally, and that's on purpose. Never in my life looked myself up on the internet, nor do I ever plan to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a bottomless pit I know I would fall into and then I'd be living in squalor from Home Depot and I'd never leave my living room.”
Despite his concerted efforts, there’s it's impossible to ignore the extremely enthusiastic response to the series. The best he and his team can do is to acknowledge it humbly and try not to let it alter the course of the show.
“We don't try to change the plot,” says co-executive producer Alison Tatlock. “Our storytelling is not influenced by audience chatter.”
“It's wiser to keep our focus on the work,” Gilligan adds.
The Central Mystery: Has the creator Have a Plan for the Ending of Pluribus?
So if the writers are not listening by audience theories, can we assume they have already decided how Pluribus will finally conclude? Essentially yes… sort of.
“We have some potential directions about how the story could conclude,” Gilligan says. “however, we remain prepared to abandon a decent plan for a superior concept. That has held us in well on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We scrap ideas when we conceive of something superior and I imagine we will be doing that.”
Then again, if plans fall through, director and writer Gordon Smith has a humorous idea to use as a backup.
“My recurring proposal is that the entire story is inside a snow globe, and that we'll reveal the snow globe and that's where they've been all along,” Smith jokes, “but nobody's taking me up on that.”
Of course, why not reference the legendary finales?
“I want Carol to wake up in bed beside Bob Newhart,” Gilligan adds, smiling.
Pluribus is currently available on Apple TV+.
