After what's felt like an endless run of weeks filled with teaser after teaser, Apple has finally given the people what they want – a proper look at Pluribus, the now imminent new show from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan. The mysteriousness of the show should be a little lower now, albeit it's still quite a stylish and vague trailer.
Pluribus starts streaming on 7 November, which means it really is just a matter of days away at this point, making it one of the more impressive examples of brinksmanship I've seen from a streamer in recent times. Normally, we'd be swimming in details by this point, especially since this first trailer makes the show look quite high-concept (classic Apple TV, really).
The show stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol, a woman who mysteriously becomes incredibly important when she seemingly doesn't get caught up in some sort of global (or at least national) phenomenon. The name of the the show and some creepy moments in the trailer suggest this could be some sort of a hive mind situation, but I'm already out on a limb with that speculation.
What we can tell is that she becomes the centre of attention thanks to her near-total misanthropy, a state of misery that marks her out from the happy masses in a big way. Whether that unhappiness is actually what's going to save her from assimilation is about as unclear as a whole heap of other details around the show, and I'm looking forward to tuning in when it premieres to hopefully learn more.
Gilligan's previous shows have been a little more straightforward than this in premise, it must be said, but Apple TV has the track record of all track records when it comes to high-concept sci-fi shows – you only need to look at the success of Severance and Silo to see that. I'm assuming it's given Gilligan something close to a blank cheque, too, which rarely hurts.
All this buildup means the show is under a bit of pressure to be good, of course, but it's seemingly guaranteed to be at least interesting, which really is half the battle these days.
