Apple TV+ seems to have (another) hit on their hands with Pluribus, the new sci-fi dramedy from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, starring his Better Call Saul leading lady, Rhea Seehorn. The series (which just aired its Season 1 finale at the time of writing this) is about a world where an alien virus infects the Earth, transforming humanity into a singular linked hive mind, in an event known as “The Joining.” Only about a dozen humans are left unaffected – including successful novelist Carol Sturka (Seehorn).
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Over the course of Pluribus Season 1, we (along with Carol) learned that this new world order is truly a unique vision: the hive mind is kind and benevolent to an absurd degree, seeking only to add others to its happy collective. Meanwhile, the show explored the gift and the curse of human individuality and choice on levels never really explored in modern sci-fi – and by the finale, it felt like Vince Gilligan was only scratching the surface of this world (much like he did in Breaking Bad Season 1).
So what’s next in Pluribus Season 2? Below you’ll find everything we know from official announcements, and the cast and crew of the show themselves.
Pluribus Season 2: When Will It Be Released (& How Many Seasons)?
Apple TV+ renewed Pluribus for Season 2 on the same day that the premiere episode, “We Is Us”, premiered. It was an easy call to make, as Pluribus debuted to instant-hit ratings for Apple TV, and generated a massive buzz on social media (and beyond). The positive word-of-mouth, theories, and overall hype for the show (and its stars) only grew between Episode 1 and Episode 9 (the finale). Given past patterns of Apple TV’s show performance and brand exposure, this is only the beginning of Pluribus‘s rise to pop-culture prominence.
Unfortunately, analysts like Forbes are already speculating that the production timeline for Pluribus Season 2 could take longer than many fans would like. By some estimates, the show may not be back for its second season until later 2027, if not 2028. That long timeline gets even more daunting when factoring in that Vince Gilligan has already indicated that Pluribus could be a four-season show. That would take us well into the 2030s before Carol’s story is finished.
Pluribus Season Is Expected to Retain the Main Cast (Possibly Add A Few More)
As for the cast: star Rhea Seehorn is already set to return as Carol Sturka, with Karolina Wydra’s ( Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Zosia and Carlos-Manuel Vesga’s Manousos Ovidedo (Devuélveme la vida) also soft-confirmed to be returning. We know as much because of the interviews the cast has done since the Pluribus finale aired, including Rhea Seehorn.
While doing an interview, Rhea Seehorn made it clear: no one can tell you about Pluribus Season 2 yet, because only Vince Gilligan knows. (SPOILERS) Gilligan threw fans for a major loop with the end of the Season 1 finale, which made good on a foreshadowing from the earliest episodes: Carol getting hold of an actual atom bomb. However, Carol’s only human ally, the acerbic Maousos, is on the verge of possibly discovering a cure for the Joining: so where does the threat of global annihilation fit into that?
There are also the lingering mysteries and dread that the Joined eat the dead, are converting the immune, and even seem to have a larger goal of spreading their hive mind beyond Earth. That makes the ever-friendly beings still somewhat scary and a potential threat to Carol, as they have already been working on cracking her DNA code for conversion. The stakes are high for Pluribus Season 2.
Pluribus Season 2: Everything Rhea Seehorn Knows (So Far)
“The good news for me is that I don’t have to keep secrets,” Seehorn said to Radio Times. “Because I don’t know anything! I literally don’t know what she’s doing with the atom bomb. I have gone through a lot of thoughts in my head,” she added. “I know that they are in the writer’s room right now writing season 2, and I have chosen not to specifically ask that.”
Seehorn went on to say that, for her, the real intrigue of Pluribus Season 2 will be the evolving dynamics between the small ensemble of characters. Gilligan has at once made Pluribus a massive sci-fi spectacle (sequences of the Joined all moving in perfect coordination, or key locals left vacant and empty), and a very intimate character study. Season 1 was mostly focused on Carol, and her eventually making a connection with the likes of Zosia, Manousos, or Koumba Diabáte (Samba Schutte), an “immune” from the North African nation of Mauritanian, who has leaned into the idea of making himself a king on Earth.
Seehorn made it clear that in Pluribus Season 2, she wants to see Carol interacting more with the two immune men she met in Season 1: “As excited as I am about the chemistry and the relationship and the bizarre rollercoaster that I have with Karoline Wydra playing Zosia so brilliantly, and wondering where that’s going, the dynamic between [Koumba] Diabaté and Carol is also slightly different now. We see that he does have some compassion and admitted that he wouldn’t want to be turned either, so would he help me?”
“And then, the dynamic I have with the brilliant Carlos-Manuel Vesga playing Manousos, so fun,” Seehorn continued. “I’m looking forward to their combative energies, because they both so dramatically are hanging onto their own intentions and secrets that they are both immovable objects when they come up against each other, which is just often comedic, no matter how you go at it! That was a lot of fun, and he’s a tremendous actor.”
Pluribus streams on Apple TV+. Let us know what you thought about the finale on the ComicBook Forum!
