The 'Breaking Bad' Creator Shares He Has a Plan for How Pluribus Will Conclude... At the Moment.
The creative mastermind could not have predicted that his new science-fiction series would emerge as a breakout success. “God bless the fans,” he states. “I did not foresee the show being as widely discussed as it is, and it makes me overjoyed.”
Now that Season 1 of the acclaimed series reaching its finale—and Season 2 greenlit and underway—Gilligan and his team reflected on the viewer reception and whether it will impact the narrative path of Pluribus.
About the Overwhelming Viewer Reception
It would be easy to get sidetracked by the widespread acclaim and audience predictions regarding Pluribus. Gilligan, however, is striving to ignore the noise.
“The experience is akin to an endless supply of your favorite dessert and being tickled to death,” he describes. “It's wonderful, but I learn of it through word of mouth, and that's on purpose. Not once have I Googled myself, nor do I ever intend to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a deep trap I know I would get lost in and then I'd be never leaving the house from the hardware store and I'd be stuck in my living room.”
Regardless of trying to stay away, there’s no escaping the immensely favorable response to the series. The most practical strategy is to acknowledge it humbly and try not to let it dictate the story of the show.
“We don't try to adjust our writing,” says co-executive producer Alison Tatlock. “The narrative we craft is not impacted by audience chatter.”
“It's wiser to keep our noses to the grindstone,” Gilligan adds.
A Pressing Query: Has the creator Have a Plan for the Finale of Pluribus?
So if Gilligan and his team aren’t being guided by audience theories, does it imply they have mapped out how Pluribus will reach its endpoint? Essentially yes… in a way.
“We have some potential directions about the ultimate destination,” he states. “but we are always ready to throw out a decent plan for a better idea. That has held us in well on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We scrap ideas when we find a more perfect path and I imagine we will be doing that.”
Then again, if plans fall through, Gordon Smith has a humorous idea to use as a backup.
“I keep pitching 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 no one is buying it.”
Then again, one could always use the iconic TV endings?
“I'd love for Carol to wake up in bed beside Bob Newhart,” Gilligan says with a smile.
Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV.
