Breaking Bad creator announces release date for new sci-fi show with Better Call Saul star

‘Pluribus’ will premiere on Apple TV+ this November

Apple TV+ have unveiled a first glimpse of the highly-anticipated new science fiction series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.

The mysterious new show, titled Pluribus, stars Rhea Seehorn. The actor was twice Emmy-nominated for her performance as Kim Wexler in Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, which Gilligan also co-created.

The first two episodes will arrive on the streaming service on Friday, November 7. New episodes will then air weekly through to the finale on December 26.

According to a statement from Apple TV+, Pluribus is “a genre-bending original in which the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.”

It has already been picked up for a second season. The show had previously been teased with the tagline: “Happiness is contagious.”

Along with Seehorn, the series will also star Karolina Wydra (Sneaky Pete) and Carlos-Manuel Vesga (The Hijacking of Flight 601). Guest stars include Miriam Shor (American Fiction) and Samba Schutte (Our Flag Means Death).

Rhea Seehorn stars in the new sci-fi series 'Pluribus' from 'Breaking Bad' creator Vince Gilligan (Apple TV+)

While many details are still being kept secret, the series has been tentatively compared to The Twilight Zone and The X-Files, which Gilligan previously wrote and produced.

In 2022, Deadline reported that the story would be set in our world and would explore human nature in unexpected ways, adding that it was “thought-provoking but not a morality tale.”

The following year, Gilligan told Variety that, like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it takes place in Albuquerque, albeit a very different one.

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“The world changes very abruptly in the first episode, and then it is quite different,” Gilligan said. “And the consequences that that reaps hopefully provide drama for many, many episodes after that.”

While Gilligan told Variety that he had no predictions as to how people would react to it, he did say “it’s a story that interests” him. Apple TV+ won the rights to the show after interest from several different networks and streaming services.

Earlier this year, Gilligan used a speech at the Writers’ Guild Awards to call for more inspiring and heroic characters to be portrayed on television.

Accepting the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, he said: “Obviously, I’m here because of Breaking Bad and Walter White. I’m proud of that character, and I’m proud of that show...

“Walter White [...] he’s one of the all time great bad guys. But all things being equal, I think I’d rather be celebrated for creating someone a bit more inspiring. In 2025 it’s time to say that out loud, because we are living in an era where bad guys, the real life kind, are running amok.”