The Showrunner Reveals He Has an Idea of How His Sci-Fi Series Might Finish... Currently.
The creative mastermind never anticipated that Pluribus would turn into a massive hit. “God bless the fans,” Gilligan says. “It was unexpected the show being as passionately debated as it is, and it makes me deliriously happy.”
Now that Season 1 of the acclaimed series reaching its finale—and a second season already in development—Gilligan and his team recently discussed the viewer reception and whether it will influence the narrative path of Pluribus.
On the Overwhelming Fan Response
Anyone might to get distracted by the constant speculation and audience predictions surrounding Pluribus. He is striving to avoid both.
“It's like being constantly eating something incredibly sweet and being tickled to death,” he explains. “It's wonderful, but I hear about it anecdotally, and that's on purpose. Not once have I searched for my own name online, nor do I ever plan to. It's not a lack of interest. It's a deep trap I know I would fall into and then I'd be living in squalor from the hardware store and I'd rarely emerge from my living room.”
Despite his concerted efforts, there’s it's impossible to ignore the overwhelmingly positive response to the series. The only approach for the writers is to accept it graciously and try not to let it influence the direction of the show.
“We don't try to tailor anything,” says co-executive producer Alison Tatlock. “The plot we develop is not changed by what people are saying.”
“We prefer to keep our focus on the work,” he chimes in.
A Pressing Query: Does the showrunner See the Conclusion of Pluribus?
So if the writers are not listening by fan response, does that mean they have already decided how Pluribus will finally conclude? The answer is yes… with some caveats.
“We've developed some compelling concepts about the ultimate destination,” Gilligan reveals. “however, we remain prepared to abandon a solid concept for a more brilliant plan. This approach has served us in good stead on Better Call Saul and on Breaking Bad even before that. We throw stuff out when we conceive of something superior and I expect we'll continue doing that.”
Then again, if plans fall through, Gordon Smith has a rather amusing idea to use as a backup.
“I keep pitching that it's all in a snow globe, and that we'll pull back at the end and that's where they've been all along,” Smith quips, “but nobody's taking me up on that.”
Alternatively, why mess with the classics?
“I want Carol to awaken next to Bob Newhart,” Gilligan says with a smile.
Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV.
