The first episode that Apple TV sent to the press of its new series, Pluribusit included an earlier message from its creator, Vince Gilligan, in which he asked journalists not to reveal too much of the plot. “We have been very careful that the details are not known and we ask that this remains the case,” he said. The new creation of the person responsible for Breaking Bad and Better call Saul (released on November 7th and with new episodes every Friday) It’s a big mystery. Before its premiere, it was only known that it would be a science fiction story in which “the most miserable person in the world tries to save humanity from happiness”. And little else.
Therefore, the first question for Gilligan is precisely what can be said about the series. “I know it’s hard and I’m sorry to make your job even harder,” he apologizes over a video call. “I usually say it’s about a romance writer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and something really big happens in the first episode that changes the whole world and she’s desperately trying to save the world from this thing, even though we’re not sure if the world needs saving.” Enigmatic enough that I don’t have much of an idea of the plot yet.
Both the viewer and the character played by Rhea Seehorn will simultaneously discover what is happening. “That’s the intention. I like shows like this. What I do best is tell stories about a character,” continues Gilligan. “Other writers are very good at collective stories, with lots of characters where you go from one character to another. I’m better at single-character stories, seeing the world through their eyes. Some of my best experiences watching movies and series have been with stories I didn’t know anything about before. An example is The X-Files. The first night it aired in 1993, 32 years ago, I was home alone, it was a Friday, I was bored and wandering around the TV and, boom, it started The X-Files. I was hooked within five minutes. I hadn’t read anything about her and I was very happy to discover her. “I want the same thing for our audience.”
The mention of The X-Files It’s no coincidence. Before Vince Gilligan achieved universal fame as the creator of one of the most praised series in history, Breaking BadHe began working on television as a writer for Mulder and Scully’s stories. Much of that disturbing fun is left behind The X-Files is also present in Pluribusa peculiar turn for a screenwriter and producer who spent nearly 15 years in the dark and criminal universe of Breaking Bad and Better call Saul.
The idea for Pluribus (a Latin word that means many or plurality and is included in one of the first national mottos of the United States: “E pluribus unum”, among many, one) Gilligan had been working on the script for about 8 or 10 years. Better call Saul. As she cleared her head by taking a walk around the neighborhood where they were writing the series and letting her thoughts wander from place to place, she suddenly imagined a man who everyone was incredibly kind to. But a story where people are very happy has little interest, so he asked himself: why was everyone so nice to him? “We were doing Better call Saulwhere all the actors were great, but there was one person in particular who caught my attention, which was Rhea Seehorn. It went really well. When we hired her I must admit I didn’t know who she was, I met her through her work on our series, and I saw how funny she was and then I discovered that she had done a lot of comedy, and at the same time she could be very dramatic. So I said to myself, why does this show have to be with a man and not a woman? “I ended up writing the story specifically for Rhea.”
It is paradoxical that, just when the real world is more polarized than ever, Vince Gilligan bets on a premise that puts kindness and extreme, even disturbing, kindness at the center. Can’t kindness be understood as something subversive in these times? The screenwriter laughs at the question: “I like the way you put it. Kindness may seem subversive, but I don’t think it is, I think most people are good. There are a lot of bad things in the world and there are bad people, you know, running things. There are bad people in the news every day making our lives miserable. America is a country that seems to be split down the middle. I don’t think anyone, on one side or the other, would want to live in a world that’s so chaotic and angry and unhappy. I like Think about what it would be like to live in a world where everyone got along. Pluribus It’s not always good for everyone to have the same mentality. It’s good to have our own individuality. “There must be a middle ground.”
It’s also shocking that, after so long writing stories about antiheroes and where the dividing line between good and evil is so thin, I chose to tell the story of a kind and happy humanity and a woman who, even in her own way, wants to save the world. Is the era of antiheroes on television over? “I wouldn’t say that, I think every storyteller should tell their stories. Personally, it’s like enjoying a delicious meal, but there comes a time when I can’t eat anything else. I feel like I’ve written enough antiheroes for a while. That doesn’t mean it will be like this forever. When I created Breaking Badit was a kind of reaction to having written heroes for almost 10 years. I wrote The X-Files and it was a great job, Mulder and Scully were heroic characters. But I thought, ‘Maybe it would be good to write about a criminal.’ And now I miss the good guys, especially in the world we live in. “There are a lot of good people, we just have to let them talk and have more control over things.”
Although Pluribus and Breaking Bad They are different stories that have nothing to do with each other, but they share some aspects. The most obvious is actress Rhea Seehorn, but also the Albuquerque environment. Does Vince Gilligan find it difficult to separate himself from the world of Walter White and Saul Goodman? “I know that Breaking Bad It’s the first thing I’ll put in my obituary when I die, hopefully very soon. It doesn’t matter what you do. I love Breaking Bad and I’m proud and grateful, but I wanted to do something new. I love Rhea Seehorn and I love my team in Albuquerque, so much so that I moved the show there so I could work with them again. There is no other reason why Pluribus happen in Albuquerque. In fact, it’s even made everything a little more complicated because now I have to explain all the time that there are no intentional connections with Breaking Bad” he laughs.
While watching the series (the press had access to seven episodes of the nine that make up the season) many questions arise: Why is Carol, the protagonist, different from the rest of humanity? Is there a solution to what happened? And another big question: Will there be answers to all the questions? Gilligan laughs again. “I don’t know if I’ll have answers to everything. I don’t really care why Carol is different, she just is. I don’t know if every question will have answers, but I know every question that needs answers will be answered. I want the audience to be satisfied, like I wanted them to be satisfied at the end of Breaking Bad any Better call Saul. But sometimes it’s rewarding to leave viewers wanting more and have them answer some questions themselves instead of saying ‘this is the answer’,” he concludes.
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