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A shocking global event changes the lives of everyone on our planet in executive producer Vince Gilligan<\/a>\u2018s long-awaited sci-fi drama, Pluribus<\/em><\/a>. Set in Albuquerque like his hits Breaking Bad<\/a><\/em> and Better Call Saul<\/a><\/em>, the eerie story reunites him with the latter\u2019s Rhea Seehorn<\/a>. She plays Carol Sturka, described by Gilligan as \u201cthe most miserable person in the world who decides she needs to save Earth from happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n If that seems mysterious and upside down, it\u2019s by design. \u201cWe want to keep a lot of it secret, and we tried to hit every [sci-fi] trope and turn it on its ear,\u201d says Gilligan, who drew inspiration from the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em><\/a>, the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/a><\/em>, and the classic TV series The Twilight Zone<\/em><\/a>. Fun fact: Seehorn\u2019s character\u2019s name is an homage to a character played by Fritz Weaver<\/a> in The Twilight Zone<\/em> episode \u201cThird From the Sun\u201d (cue sleuthing for possible Pluribus<\/em> plotline clues!) and Better Call Saul<\/em> guest star Carol Burnett<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carol Sturka herself is an unexpected combination. \u201cShe\u2019s a romance novelist and a curmudgeon,\u201d Gilligan reveals of the grumpy woman we first meet on a book tour with her manager Helen (Miriam Shor<\/a>, once again playing a literary world character as she did on Younger<\/a><\/em>). \u201cThe two of them together on set were a hoot. They were thickest thieves from the moment they met, and the chemistry was wonderful,\u201d Gilligan says.<\/p>\n Chemistry with Seehorn was key for casting because Gilligan wrote the role for her. He began working on the story 10 years ago, and centered it on a male protagonist, but that changed after he worked with Seehorn on Better Call Saul<\/em>. \u201cRhea is a lot of ways very much the opposite of Carol, sweet and kind to everybody, which again proves what a good actor she is,\u201d he shares. \u201cI wanted to work with her again, and she\u2019s tremendous in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilligan has a caution for anyone constructing theories that because this series is set in Albuquerque, there will be a secret connection to the Saul<\/em> universe: \u201cI\u2019m sure maybe a lot of folks are going to say, \u2018There\u2019s got to be some deeper secret point to that. She\u2019s really Kim Wexler,\u2019 or whatnot. She\u2019s not. I love Albuquerque. I love my crew, I love the people. I love the landscape. It looks fantastic on film.\u201d That said, \u201cThere might be some Easter eggs along the way, [but] I can\u2019t imagine Carol running into Kim Wexler. That would be pretty weird.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s a weird show, in a wonderful way. And it gets even weirder when Carol meets Zosia (Karolina Wydra<\/a>), a spokesperson for the believers in our planet\u2019s new reality. \u201cCarol does not want to be tasked with saving the world, but no one else is rising to the occasion. She goes on a quest to the other side of the world trying to save it from a crisis that in her mind is apocalyptic,\u201d Gilligan says. \u201cBut perhaps it\u2019s not as bad as she thinks. We leave that to the audience: Is this dystopic or utopic?\u201d<\/p>\n