Pluribus is already confirmed for a second season. Former X-Files writer and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and his team are hard at work mapping out the next batch of episodes for his mysterious science fiction show, which debuts on Apple TV next month. But what about beyond that? How many seasons does Gilligan have planned for Pluribus? Ahead of the series premiere, we asked the show’s creator what to expect.
“If you held a gun to my head, I would say three seasons. At least I would hope for three seasons,” Gilligan tells Polygon.
Three seasons? Great, nice and tidy. Except, as the showrunner admits, plans change. After all, that’s exactly what happened with his first major series.
“I said that in the early days of Breaking Bad,” Gilligan recalls. “People asked me, and I said, ‘I think three seasons and done.’ And then it turned out to be six, which was great. There turned out to be more story than I thought was possible. So maybe that’ll be the case here. Maybe it won’t be. I don’t know.”
The showrunner freely admits that he and his writers don’t have the entire story of Pluribus meticulously mapped out. This gives them some room to maneuver as the show evolves naturally and audiences react. But that freedom can also be intimidating.
“I’m nervous and excited,” Gilligan says. “We want to see what happens next. We have ideas, but we don’t know for certain.”
Ultimately, the showrunner says his biggest concern is in giving audiences too much, rather than not enough. He points to his shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as examples of series that ended at exactly the right point in their respective stories.
“I don’t want to overstay our welcome,” Gilligan says. “I want to leave the audience wanting a little bit more. Maybe not seasons more, but just at least a little bit more. In that regard, I think it’s better and more fitting to end a little sooner, rather than later.”
Pluribus premieres Nov. 7 on Apple TV.
