The 'Breaking Bad' Creator Shares He Knows How His Sci-Fi Series Might Finish... For Now.
The creative mastermind did not foresee that the Apple TV+ show would become a cultural phenomenon. “I am so grateful to the audience,” Gilligan says. “I did not foresee the show being as widely discussed as it is, and it makes me overjoyed.”
With the first season of the hit sci-fi show reaching its finale—and a second season greenlit and underway—Gilligan and his team reflected on the audience reaction and whether it will influence the future direction of Pluribus.
About the Incredible Fan Response
Anyone might to get distracted by the constant speculation and online debates surrounding Pluribus. The creator is doing his best to ignore the noise.
“It's like being an endless supply of hot fudge sundaes and being laughing uncontrollably,” he describes. “It's wonderful, but I hear about it from others, and that's on purpose. Never in my life looked myself up on the internet, nor do I ever want to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a rabbit hole I know I would get lost in and then I'd be pooping in a five gallon bucket from the hardware store and I'd rarely emerge from my living room.”
Regardless of his concerted efforts, there’s no way to avoid the immensely favorable response to the series. The best he and his team can do is to acknowledge it humbly and try not to let it dictate the story of the show.
“We don't try to change the plot,” says writer and executive producer Alison Tatlock. “The narrative we craft is not changed by what people are saying.”
“It's wiser to keep our heads down and working,” Gilligan concludes.
The Big Question: Has the showrunner Have a Plan for the Conclusion of Pluribus?
So if the writers are not listening by audience theories, does it imply they have already decided how Pluribus will reach its endpoint? The answer is yes… in a way.
“We've developed some compelling concepts about how the story could conclude,” Gilligan says. “however, we remain prepared to discard a good idea for a superior concept. That philosophy has guided us in well on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We change course when we conceive of something superior and I imagine we will be doing that.”
Then again, if all else fails, director and writer Gordon Smith has a pretty funny idea to fall back on.
“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,” he says humorously, “but no one is buying it.”
Alternatively, why not reference the classics?
“My dream is Carol to awaken with Bob Newhart there,” Gilligan adds, smiling.
Pluribus can be watched on Apple TV.
