Recommendations of the Editorial team
When the first season of Pluribus ended, it did so with the force of a nuclear cliffhanger. Of course, the new series from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan hardly answered any questions. You wiped your eyes and wondered if you understood anything at all.
This feeling will last for a while: at a press day AppleTV Gilligan confirmed that the writers are currently “deep in the process” of developing the second season, but also explained that “Pluribus” in particular needs time.
“It takes a long time to come up with these episodes,” he said – meaning not production delays, but the actual creative work.
Vince Gilligan always takes his time
Gilligan, who has already proven with the previous series from Albuquerque that he prefers to tell stories slowly rather than arbitrarily, made no secret of the fact that this slowness sometimes frustrates him. He also said in the conference that he himself wished the series would return more quickly.
Gilligan made an insightful comparison to his time on “The X-Files,” where he worked as a writer and executive producer in the 1990s. Back then, he recalled, shows returned almost ritually at the same time year after year. A reliable rhythm that hardly exists today in the age of prestige series and streaming.
“Pluribus,” says Gilligan, could perhaps return “in the same month” – “it’s just a question of which year”. A sentence, half joke, half serious warning. At the end he expressly thanked the audience for their patience.
What “Pluribus” is actually about
“Pluribus” is perhaps the most ambitious new series since the launch of Apple TV and gave Gilligan an ideal new beginning after saying goodbye to the “Breaking Bad” cosmos. The series is about a disturbing future scenario in which (almost) everyone is happy but also completely connected. Stylistically, “Pluribus” combines Gilligan’s old love of mystery and horror (“Twilight Zone,” “The Body Snatchers Are Coming”) with his penchant for precise figure drawing. The result is an almost paranoid science fiction tone with satirical accompanying music. The individual episodes escalate very slowly. Inconspicuous details and moral gray areas are not accessories, but rather the driving force of the plot.
Critics’ favorite of 2025
It seems justified that Gilligan is taking this time: “Pluribus” was celebrated by many critics as one of the best series of 2025 and also landed high in most rankings. Above all, the intellectual depth of the series, its formal rigor and the courage to finally challenge the audience again were praised (Hello, Netflix, please listen!).
The entire first season of “Pluribus” is available on Apple TV – and in retrospect it almost seems like an extended prologue. The fact that the second season of the series is a long time coming is not just due to the production reality. It fits strangely well with a story about patience, insecurity and enduring uncertainty.
