The season finale of Apple TV’s Pluribus featured a major cliffhanger, but eagle-eyed fans of creator Vince Gilligan’s work may have spotted a quiet reference to his most famous series. In a recent interview, the show’s creative team confirmed a small but significant Breaking Bad Easter egg hidden in the final episode.
The connection is found in the home of Manousos Oviedo, the character played by Carlos-Manuel Vesga. On his kitchen table, viewers can see a book about crystallography. This is a direct nod to Walter White, Bryan Cranston’s character in Breaking Bad, who was a high school chemistry teacher and an expert in crystallography. Walter’s groundbreaking research in that field even contributed to a Nobel Prize.
This discovery was made public when a reporter from The Hollywood Reporter asked the Pluribus creators about the book’s potential meaning. This subtle reference adds another layer to a show already packed with callbacks for dedicated fans of Gilligan’s storytelling universe.
The crystallography book is not the only connection to Vince Gilligan’s past work. Pluribus has included several subtle nods that create a sense of a shared creative universe, even though the show is not officially set in the same world as Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.
In the first episode, main character Carol Sturka, played by Rhea Seehorn, pours herself a drink of Macallan whiskey during a moment of distress. This expensive Scotch whisky became a recurring symbol in Better Call Saul, most memorably appearing in a heartbreaking season six scene. Furthermore, when Carol travels to Spain in episode two, she flies on Wayfarer Airlines. This is the same fictional airline involved in a catastrophic mid-air collision in the second season of Breaking Bad, one of the series’ most tragic events.
The show also features a surprising number of cameos from actors familiar to Gilligan’s fans. In a promotional video for the show, stars like Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Aaron Paul, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jonathan Banks all appeared to tell Carol to “join us”. Within the show itself, Patrick Fabian, who played Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul, provides the voice for the automated answering service Carol calls.
“We said, ‘You know who would be perfect? Patrick.’ He didn’t really know what he was recording,” explained executive producer Gordon Smith. “We captured dozens of versions, any one of which would have been perfect.”
The team even surprised Seehorn with Fabian’s voice on set, not telling her in advance to capture her genuine reaction.
The final moments of the Pluribus season one finale left viewers stunned. After discovering that the hive mind plans to use her frozen eggs to turn her into one of them against her will, Carol ends her situationship with Zosia. She returns to her Albuquerque home and has a large metal crate containing an atomic bomb delivered to her driveway. She then tells Manousos, “You win. We save the world”.
However, this dramatic ending was not the original plan. According to the creators, the initial script concluded on a much quieter note. Carol was going to secretly agree to work with Manousos, acting as a double agent against the hive mind.
“It was similar to that ending. It was more subtle,” said Gordon Smith. “Carol secretly forges a pact with Manousos, slips him a note, and is perhaps going to play double agent.”
The shift came after Apple TV and Sony executives suggested the creative team look for a more impactful conclusion. Showrunner Vince Gilligan agreed it was a smart suggestion.
“We had an ending that was perfectly good. It would have been satisfying but not as satisfying,” Gilligan stated. “Apple and Sony said, ‘Is there an even better ending to be had?’ And we listened… It made for a better ending.”
The bomb delivery works as a payoff to a joke from earlier in the season. In episode three, Carol sarcastically asked if the hive mind would give her an atom bomb, and they confirmed they would. The new ending changed the story’s direction from covert spy mission to open declaration of war.
The finale’s closing scene sets up major stakes for the already-confirmed second season. The central question is what Carol intends to do with the weapon now in her possession. Does she plan to use it as a threat, or is she prepared to follow through? This dilemma is reminiscent of a famous Breaking Bad cliffhanger, where Walter White was shown buying a machine gun with no clear plan for its use.
The creators say they have a clearer idea for this payoff than they did in the past.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea where we’re going with it,” Vince Gilligan said, comparing it to Walter White’s machine gun. “We don’t consciously endeavor to paint ourselves into corners like we used to.”
Another mystery involves Manousos’s research. In the finale, he is seen experimenting with a specific radio frequency, trying to communicate with an individual inside a seized member of the hive. Gilligan clarified that this signal is not the powerful transmission that caused the global Joining event, leaving the true source of that signal as a puzzle for the next season.
Creating Pluribus represented a new scale of production for Vince Gilligan and his team. The show’s global story, which filmed in locations from New Mexico to Spain’s Canary Islands, required more time and resources than Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.
This allowed for intricate details and solutions that wouldn’t have been possible before. For a road trip sequence, the production bought and modified two vintage MG Midget cars in Europe to match one used in New Mexico, ensuring visual continuity across continents. Gilligan credits the extended pre-production time for enabling this level of planning.
For star Rhea Seehorn, reuniting with the creative team was a welcome return, and she worked to make new cast members like Karolina Wydra and Carlos-Manuel Vesga feel at home. Vesga recalled the infectious, detail-oriented energy on set, citing a moment when Gilligan became fascinated with how a marker rolled on a table and worked to recreate the perfect shot.
Pluribus Season 1 is available to stream in its entirety on Apple TV+. While no official release date has been announced for Season 2, Vince Gilligan has indicated that the meticulous production process means fans should expect a wait, noting the team works “much like glaciers melt”.
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