The 'Breaking Bad' Creator Shares He Knows How The Apple TV+ Show Might Finish... Currently.
The creative mastermind did not foresee that the Apple TV+ show would turn into a breakout success. “The viewers have been incredible,” he states. “It was unexpected the show being as talked about as it is, and it makes me deliriously happy.”
Now that Season 1 of the acclaimed program wrapping up—and a second season officially in the works—the creative team opened up about the viewer reception and whether it will influence the narrative path of Pluribus.
On the Overwhelming Audience Reaction
It would be easy to get sidetracked by the widespread acclaim and online debates about Pluribus. The creator is striving to ignore the noise.
“It's like being an endless supply of something incredibly sweet and being laughing uncontrollably,” he describes. “It's amazing, but I get wind of it anecdotally, and that's on purpose. I have never searched for my own name online, nor do I ever intend to. It's quite the opposite. It's a bottomless pit I know I would disappear down and then I'd be never leaving the house from the hardware store and I'd never leave my living room.”
Despite his concerted efforts, 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 alter the course of the show.
“We make no attempt to adjust our writing,” says Alison Tatlock. “The narrative we craft is not changed by audience chatter.”
“Better to keep our heads down and working,” Gilligan concludes.
The Big Question: Does Vince Gilligan Know the Ending of Pluribus?
Given that Gilligan and his team are not listening by fan response, does that mean they have already decided how Pluribus will ultimately end? The answer is yes… sort of.
“We have some potential directions about where the show might end up,” Gilligan says. “however, we remain prepared to discard a decent plan for a superior concept. That has held us in good stead on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We scrap ideas when we conceive of something superior and I expect we'll continue doing that.”
Then again, if they hit a wall, executive producer Gordon Smith has a pretty funny idea to fall back on.
“My recurring proposal is that everything takes place within a snow globe, and that we'll pull back at the end and the characters are inside it,” Smith quips, “but nobody's taking me up on that.”
Then again, why not reference the classics?
“I want Carol to open her eyes beside Bob Newhart,” Gilligan adds, smiling.
Pluribus can be watched on Apple TV.
