Vince Gilligan: “I know not everyone will like Pluribus”

The creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is turning the page. He presents his mysterious new creation to us, to follow on Apple TV.

“When Better Call Saul ended, I took stock: we had filmed 127 episodes in the Breaking Bad universe, including the film El Camino. It was probably wise to stop there. So I consciously refused to dig the same furrow again.

After devoting 14 years of his life to Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan decided it was time to move on. Today he presents his new creation Pluribus, the first two episodes of which were released this Friday, November 7 on Apple TV (available in France via MyCanal). An assumed risk that the showrunner details in the latest issue of Première, currently available on newsstands.

“I’ve had both success and failure, and I must admit that I much prefer success. (Laughs.) But it can sometimes feel like a golden prison,” Gilligan tells us, who thought long and hard before making his decision. The desire to get out of your comfort zone took over. And he began writing Pluribus “six or seven years ago”, while he was still in the middle of the Better Call Saul adventure.

Pluribus marks a change of universe, but also of register for Vince Gilligan. His new series tells the story of the arrival of an extra-terrestrial virus which plunges humanity into suspicious kindness. A phenomenon which spares the heroine, played by Rhea Seehorn (Kim Drexler from Better Call Saul), the only defense against this excess of happiness.

“Happy people are not very suited to dramaturgy. So I told myself that the main character must, on the contrary, be very unhappy,” explains Gilligan. He is aware that the subject will get people talking, and undoubtedly divide the public. A choice that he accepts after having signed two of the most acclaimed series by critics and the public in the 21st century.

“I know that not everyone is going to like Pluribus, it’s impossible. However, I think it’s a good thing to fuel the debate. What finally convinced me was to allow Rhea Seehorn, an actress that I adore, to become a TV star. She had never had a leading role until now and given her talent, it seemed criminal to me.”