The creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul has finally revealed that he struggled for years to name his latest series, settling on a title he initially disliked. Vince Gilligan’s new science fiction drama on Apple TV, Pluribus, is now streaming, but the show’s name was a source of major frustration for its creator.
In a recent interview, Gilligan explained that he and his writing team considered over 100 different titles before coming back to Pluribus, a word he repeatedly rejected. The series, which stars Rhea Seehorn as a woman immune to a global event that turns humanity into a peaceful hive mind, premiered on November 7, 2025.
The Long Struggle To Name The Show
Vince Gilligan has said that naming this new series was the single most difficult creative challenge he has faced, harder than naming any of his previous hit shows.
“We’d be working on the show, and every week or so I’d say, ‘We gotta come up with a damn title for this thing. What is it?’” Gilligan shared. “We had a list of over 100 titles. We had ‘Pluribus’ pretty early on, and I said, ‘No, it’s gotta be something else’. And then we came back to it after about two years”.
He contrasted this struggle with the ease of naming his past projects. The titles Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino all came to him and his teams relatively quickly. For this new project, however, nothing felt right for a very long time. Gilligan admitted that even after two years of development, he could not think of a title that truly satisfied him.
What “Pluribus” Actually Means
The title Pluribus is a Latin word drawn from the traditional United States motto “E pluribus unum,” which translates to “Out of many, one”. This phrase directly connects to the show’s central premise, where the majority of humanity has joined a single, unified consciousness.
The show’s logo, stylized as PLUR1BUS with a number “1” replacing the letter “i,” visually reinforces this idea of many becoming one. Gilligan has clarified that while the title references an American motto, the show itself is meant to have a global perspective.
“The show is not intended to be just American,” Gilligan stated. “I really want this to be a show for the whole world, and I liked the idea of out of many, one, in reference to the democracy of the United States, but also out of many people from all around the world, one”.
The Show’s Premise And Star
Pluribus is a post-apocalyptic science fiction series set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The story begins when astronomers detect a mysterious radio signal from space containing a viral RNA sequence. An accidental lab release spreads an extraterrestrial virus that transforms almost all of humanity into a content and peaceful hive mind called the “Others”.
The protagonist is Carol Sturka, played by Rhea Seehorn. Carol is a cynical romance novelist and one of only 13 people in the world immune to the effects of “the Joining”. The hive mind, which now possesses the combined knowledge and memories of all infected individuals, is accommodating but ultimately seeks to assimilate Carol and the other immune survivors.
Gilligan wrote the lead role specifically for Seehorn, his former Better Call Saul star, without telling her initially. “You just can’t take your eyes off her,” Gilligan said of Seehorn. “She’s got a wonderful charisma. And she can do anything — make you laugh, make you cry”.
Release Schedule And Initial Reception
Pluribus launched globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, November 7, 2025. The first season consists of nine episodes. The first two episodes were released on the premiere date, with new episodes following every Friday through December 26, 2025. Apple has already ordered a second season of the series.
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The show’s marketing campaign was notably secretive, relying on mystery and curiosity. For months, the only information available was a cryptic logline: “The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness”. This strategy included a real phone number fans could call to hear a message from the show’s hive mind.
Initial critical reception has been positive, with the show earning nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two Critics’ Choice Awards. The series represents Gilligan’s first major project outside the Breaking Bad universe since his work on The X-Files, and his first entirely original series concept since Breaking Bad itself.
“I wanted to prove to myself I wasn’t a one-trick pony,” Gilligan said about creating a new story unrelated to his past hits. “It’s harder than it’s ever been to get something made that’s not based on a previous movie or comic book or video game. Every generation deserves its own stories”.
Despite his initial strong dislike for the title, Gilligan has now made peace with Pluribus. “Now that we’ve lived with it for a while and now that it’s out in the world,” he reflected, “it seems to me like, yeah, ‘Why was that so hard?’”.
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