The premiere of Vince Gilligan‘s new series, Pluribus, left audiences on the edge of their seats. One of the most intense sequences follows Rhea Seehorn‘s character, Carol, as she desperately drives through a city in chaos. In a new behind-the-scenes video, the show’s creator has revealed the complex filmmaking magic required to make those scenes look real.
Gilligan explained that filming a character driving in a car, a common scene in television, presented a major technical challenge for his team. The issue was that the camera equipment and lighting would normally be visible in the car’s windshield, breaking the illusion for viewers.
To solve this, the production team built a unique and sophisticated camera rig. Marshall Adams, the show’s director of photography, created a system that replaced the traditional view through the windshield with something else entirely.
“You’re looking through a windshield—except you can’t do that because lights and camera equipment and whatnot are going to be reflected in the windshield,” Gilligan said. “It’s all these big LED screens and a tow vehicle to pull the pickup truck. So you [Rhea] did such a good job making it look like you’re really driving because you were looking at TV screens.”
This meant that while it appeared Seehorn was navigating the crumbling streets of Albuquerque, she was actually being towed in a stationary truck while performing against a backdrop of large video screens displaying the pre-recorded route. The actor’s performance was crucial to selling the effect, making the high-stakes drive feel authentic and terrifying.
The Scene That Took a Whole Night to Film
The driving sequence was not a simple setup. Gilligan identified it as scene 46 in the pilot episode, a single scene that consumed a significant amount of the production schedule.
The crew spent an entire night shooting the complex sequence. The day before was dedicated entirely to rehearsing the scene, ensuring that every technical element and Seehorn’s performance would align perfectly. This level of preparation highlights the meticulous and detail-oriented approach Gilligan and his team are known for, a standard that helped define his previous hits like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
A New World from a Familiar Creator
Pluribus marks Gilligan’s first major series since the conclusion of Better Call Saul. The show, which premiered its first two episodes on November 7, 2025 on Apple TV, introduces a unique post-apocalyptic scenario.
The series stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, a misanthropic fantasy novelist who finds herself as one of only thirteen people immune to “the Joining.” This is a mysterious extraterrestrial phenomenon that has fused the rest of humanity into a serene, collective hive mind known as the “Others.” Rather than featuring traditional zombies, the show explores a world where everyone is compulsively happy and peaceful, having lost their individuality.
The show has been met with critical acclaim for its cerebral writing, unique premise, and Seehorn’s performance in a leading role. For Gilligan, it was a conscious decision to move from the anti-heroes of his past work toward a story with a more heroic central character, even if she is deeply reluctant and flawed.
Where to Watch the New Series
Pluribus is available to stream exclusively on Apple TV. The first season consists of nine episodes. After the two-episode premiere on November 7, new episodes are released weekly every Friday through December 26, 2025.
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