One of the best new sci-fi shows in recent memory, Pluribus, ended its first season by paying off a joke—or what we thought was a joke—made by Carol (Rhea Seehorn) a few episodes prior. As one of very few humans who have yet to be incorporated into a worldwide, alien-powered hive mind, Carol has realized the “Others” must give her anything she wants. That includes a live grenade, which causes chaos upon delivery, leading Carol to wonder if there are any limits to what she can ask for.
We didn’t really think Carol would end up with an atomic bomb. And when she talks about it the first time, she doesn’t actually want one. But the tables turn when she realizes the Others will soon be able to make her forcefully submit to “the Joining.” The season ends with a giant box being dropped off in her Albuquerque cul-de-sac, and Carol informing one of her fellow holdouts, Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga), what it contains.
Season two of Pluribus will presumably see Carol and Manousos setting out to save the world as best they can, with a weapon of mass destruction on hand to back them up. But exactly what will that look like? In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, show creator Vince Gilligan and star Seehorn joked that Pluribus might just breeze past the nuclear question.
Gilligan referenced one of his previous shows, Breaking Bad, which introduced a machine gun hidden in a car trunk in its final season—a device he said later proved troublesome to incorporate into the story.
“I didn’t know what we were going to do with the machine gun in the trunk, but now I have the confidence to go forward in season two of Pluribus and just never mention the atomic bomb ever,” Gilligan said. “So that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Picking up the joke, Seehorn jumped in: “Leave the box sitting in the driveway!”
“People forget, you know,” Gilligan said before becoming more serious. “No, we do have more of an idea. Having said that, we thought we did, and we’re working away in the writers’ room now, and we’ve been plugging away for a couple, several months now. And you think, ‘Yeah, we know what we’re gonna do with this.’ And then you get into it and you’re like, ‘Do we really? Do we really know?’”
Gilligan added that he welcomes the challenge. And yes, the Pluribus writers will need time to untangle what’s next for Carol and make season two as satisfying as season one was. But fans want to know… how much time?
“I don’t know,” Gilligan said. “We’re doing our best. It takes forever, making this thing. I wish it was faster. We appreciate everybody’s patience very much, more and more as the months drag on. But thank you, for anyone who likes the show. Thank you for your patience. We appreciate it very much. We are honest to God doing our best.”
You can watch the full interview with Rolling Stone here:
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