The new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has debuted on Apple TV+ and has led many fans to question whether it’s linked to the meth dealing TV series.
Many believe that Breaking Bad is one of the best shows of all time, and Vince Gilligan has spoken exclusively to LADbible, where he talked about a possible prequel series focused on Gustavo Fring.
Gilligan, however, is looking to the future with his new highly rated TV show following Rhea Seehorn as the ‘most miserable person on the earth’ who is ‘trying to save the world from happiness’.
Whilst Gilligan has insisted the series is not linked to Breaking Bad, rumours have persisted due to small hints in the show that point towards the iconic TV show.
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Called Pluribus, the series has debuted to a massively positive reaction online that could easily be argued to be the most enthusiastic response to a new show all year.
At the time of writing, Pluribus sits at an 8.9 on IMDb with a perfect 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, with some going as far as to call it the ‘best pilot episode ever’.
Many, however, have taken note of the fact that the show is set in Albuquerque and that Better Call Saul actor Seehorn obviously stars.
Add to that smaller details such as her neighbourhood looking like that of Hank Schraeder, and some fans noticing in a trailer that the show shares a fictional airline with Breaking Bad, and many simply don’t believe Gilligan’s earlier quotes that his new show has nothing to do with his previous series.
Speaking exclusively to LADbible, when asked about possible links between the shows, Gilligan said: “People are going to say ‘why Albuquerque, that must be a hidden meaning’.
“The simple boring answer to that is I love my crew and they all live in Albuquerque! So I figured we have to shoot in Albuquerque because I know them, I love them, I want to keep them employed, I want to keep them selfishly doing the good work I’m used to having.
“I actually was resistant to the idea of Albuquerque because I thought ‘this is just going to confused people’. It’s very confusing, I admit to that, but I hope people bear with us.”
The show’s core neighbourhood, whilst similar to that of Breaking Bad, is actually a custom-made lot, something that some fans have theorised is due to issues at the original Breaking Bad house, where fans would come and throw pizza on the roof.
When asked about this, Gilligan said: “Apple TV+ has been very kind and very generous with us. We knew early on that the house Carol lived in, we were going to be doing a lot of big things in her neighbourhood.
“I wasn’t thinking of the pizza on the roof so much, I was thinking … [considering what they had to film at Carol’s house every week] if we shot in a real neighbourhood, all it would take would be one neighbour to say ‘to hell with this, I’m done’.
“We knew we had to own the neighbourhoods so we built it from scratch which to this day astounds me.”
The show’s reaction clearly demonstrates Apple TV’s faith in Gilligan, as it renewed Pluribus for a second season before a single episode was released.
Tim Glanfield, writing for The Times UK, gave the show a perfect five stars, saying: “Through what will surely be Seehorn’s first Emmy-winning performance and Gilligan’s trademark writing and direction filled with pregnant pauses and black humour, this show could hardly capture the zeitgeist more firmly.”
Kaiya Shunyata, writing for RogerEbert.com, said of the series: “Pluribus quickly shapes up to be one of this year’s most complicated and thrilling television series and has the potential to define this decade like Gilligan’s previous series defined the beginning of the century.”
Fans were aligned with critics on the show, with one comment on Reddit saying: “Best pilot episode of a show that I've seen maybe ever.”
Another tweeted: “I’m so glad to see people agreeing that the pilot of Pluribus was one of the best pilots they’ve seen cause when I said that a month ago I was accused of overhyping the show but I DID NOT LIE.”
Pluribus is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
Topics: Breaking Bad, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin