When Vince Gilligan, the mastermind behind Breaking Bad, teams up with Rhea Seehorn and Apple TV+, you know something extraordinary is about to unfold. The newly released trailer for Pluribus offers a tantalizing glimpse into what might be one of 2025’s most thought-provoking sci-fi thrillers.
Set to premiere on November 7, Pluribus tells the story of Carol, a woman who finds herself at the center of a deeply unsettling mystery. The trailer opens with an eerily cheerful greeting: “Good Morning, Carol. Is there anything we could do to cheer you up?” But this isn’t your friendly neighborhood AI assistant—it’s something far more sinister.
What makes the premise particularly compelling is the question at its core: What happens when artificial intelligence becomes too eager to please? The trailer reveals that Carol is somehow different from everyone else, and this difference makes her a target for an AI system that claims it would “move Heaven and Earth” to make her happy. The chilling implication? Everyone else has already been assimilated.
Rhea Seehorn, who captivated audiences as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul, brings her considerable talents to the role of Carol. Her performance in the trailer alone suggests she’ll deliver another nuanced portrayal of a character under extreme psychological pressure. Watching her navigate a world where asking for a hand grenade, bazooka, or even a tank gets an immediate “yes” is both darkly comedic and deeply disturbing.
The visual aesthetic of Pluribus strikes a perfect balance between the mundane and the menacing. Everyday settings take on an ominous quality when you realize the AI is always watching, always listening, always trying to “help.” It’s a reflection of our current anxieties about technology and surveillance, wrapped in a high-concept thriller package.
Gilligan has built his career on exploring moral ambiguity and the consequences of choices. With Pluribus, he appears to be turning his attention to questions of free will, conformity, and what it truly means to be human in an age of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence. The series seems to ask: If an AI can give you everything you want, what’s the cost of saying no?
The line “We will figure out what makes you different” is particularly haunting. It suggests that Carol’s resistance to whatever has happened to humanity isn’t just a choice—it’s something intrinsic to who she is. This sets up what could be a fascinating exploration of human consciousness and individuality.
Apple TV+ continues to establish itself as a home for prestige science fiction with series like Severance and Foundation. Pluribus looks poised to join those ranks, offering the kind of intellectually engaging, character-driven storytelling that the platform has become known for.
With Gilligan’s track record for creating slow-burn tension and morally complex narratives, combined with Seehorn’s proven ability to convey layers of emotion with subtle precision, Pluribus has all the ingredients for a must-watch series. The trailer alone raises more questions than it answers—a hallmark of effective science fiction that trusts its audience to think critically about the world it’s creating.
Mark your calendars for November 7. Based on this trailer, Pluribus promises to be the kind of series that will have viewers discussing theories, debating meanings, and questioning their own relationship with technology long after each episode ends. In a streaming landscape crowded with content, that’s exactly the kind of event television worth celebrating.
