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Editor’s Note: The following story contains spoilers for Season 1 of “Pluribus.”
The first season of Apple TV’s acclaimed sci-fi drama “Pluribus” just wrapped on Christmas Eve, but audiences are already pining for news of the next chapter.
The nine-episode series from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan seemingly came out of nowhere in November, creating a frenzy at the tail end of 2025, which was a largely uneventful year for original drama television. Set primarily in Gilligan’s go-to destination of Albuquerque, New Mexico, “Pluribus” kicks off with all but 12 people on Earth being infected with an alien virus that joins them into a mysterious hive mind. While the virus’ global effects are seemingly positive — creating a communal society full of smiling faces and absent of violence, bigotry, and class systems — on a person-to-person level, the results are less comforting. Individuals aren’t “I” but “we,” and all distinguishing personality traits have simply disappeared.
At the center of all of this is a short-tempered romantasy novelist named Carol, played by Rhea Seehorn, who is one of the “lucky” few to be unaffected by the virus — though, as she finds out during the first season, that’s only temporary. As Episode 9 comes to a close, Carol gets the news that “the Others,” as she calls them, are closing in on a way to bring her into the hive, setting up a nail-biting Season 2. (The first season is currently the #1 show on Apple TV.)
But exactly when that second season will make its way to screens is the question on viewers’ minds, especially after Gilligan and executive producer Gordon Smith told The Hollywood Reporter after the finale that it could be a while.
“It’s going to frustrate some folks, just to be honest. We work at the speed we work at, much like glaciers melt at the speed that they melt at. For my own sake, as much as anybody, selfishly, I wish we could get this job done quicker because I don’t know how many years I’ve got left. I still want to do more things, but I go slower than I used to. So it’s going to be a while between seasons; it just is,” Gilligan told the publication, elaborating on Smith’s comment that the series “will be back as soon as humanly possible.”
In another post-finale interview, this time with Entertainment Weekly, the duo doubled down on refusing to rush toward Season 2, with Smith quipping that they’re at least pointed in the right direction and Gilligan defending their creative process.
“As much as I am so grateful for the fans digging this show, we’ve always found our best way to proceed is to be in our bunker creating this thing and not pay too much attention to reactions of any sort, positive or negative,” Gilligan said. “We’re kind of the first fans of this show, the first viewers of the show, and we kinda try to make ourselves happy.”
Those comments didn’t sit well with eager “Pluribus” devotees, who logged onto social media in recent days to lament the team’s lack of progress and express frustration over shows taking so long between seasons these days. And we’re not talking about just any sci-fi fans here: Even Stephen King joined in the call for a speedier timeline, tweeting, “Vince Gilligan says he’s in no hurry to get going on Season 2 of PLURIBUS. Understood, but hey, Vince, if you’re listening: I’m not getting any younger.”
For now, there isn’t a set date for Season 2 to start filming, which means it’ll likely be 2027, at the absolute earliest, before viewers get to find out what Carol plans to do with the atom bomb the Others gifted her at the end of Season 1.
English (US) ·