Life is stressful, anxiety-inducing and often disappointing and there’s no one better than Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad” and co-creator of “Better Call Saul,” to remind viewers that things could be a whole lot worse.
The multi-award-winning writer and director has taken his dark thoughts a step farther, and in a fresh direction, with the new Apple TV+ series “Pluribus,” a sci-fi tale that explores the perils of groupthink and the weirdness of utopia.
He wrote it for one of his favorite actresses, Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim Wexler in “Better Call Saul,” the successful, but self-sabotaging, corporate lawyer, and wife of the titular character Saul Goodman.
“When you work with actors that wonderful, you want to keep them close, and continue working with them,” says Gilligan, referring to Seehorn at the London double-episode premiere of “Pluribus.” Seehorn stars as Carol Sturka, a rich, successful fantasy romance writer — and grouch — who suddenly finds herself in a strange new world where everyone is relentlessly happy and eager to please her.
Gilligan says he’d been kicking the plotline of “Pluribus” — which comes from “E pluribus unum,” the U.S. motto that means “Out of many, one” — around in his head for a decade and was ready to start writing “about heroes, rather than villains.”
Rhea Seehorn
Harry Lawlor/WWD
He says that while Carol is not a full-on hero, “at least she’s trying to be.” He says he knew early on, during the filming of “Better Call Saul,” which he co-created with fellow writer and producer Peter Gould, that Seehorn was the right actor to play her.
“I thought, ‘Why can’t it be a female protagonist? And why shouldn’t it be Rhea?’” says Gilligan, who was also ready to give sci-fi another whirl. Earlier in his career he wrote scripts — and later became a producer — for “The X-Files.”
It’s easy to see why he picked Seehorn, who is able to swing from comedy to tragedy in an instant and embraces the complexity, darkness and — often — loneliness of her characters. She and Gilligan make a good team, one reason why she accepted the role, script unseen.
“Vince said, ‘I wrote something for you, if you’re interested. The ‘If you’re interested,’ makes me laugh every time. So, so I cried — and then I said yes,” says Seehorn, whose first name is pronounced “Ray.” She says with Gilligan, it doesn’t matter “if you’re in the background of a scene, playing a bench. You know it’s going to be awesome.”
The nine-episode drama series, which also stars Karolina Wydra and Carlos-Manuel Vesga and features Miriam Shor and Samba Schutte, started earlier this month, with episodes dropping once a week through Dec. 26. It’s already been picked up for a second season.
Rhea Seehorn stars as Carol, a well-meaning curmudgeon who finds herself alone in a world surrounded by weirdly happy people.
During an interview following the premiere, the enthusiastic Seehorn, who’s quick to laugh, crack a joke, or even give a spontaneous hug, says Gilligan has many talents and his writing, “just hits you in the face from the get-go.”
She adds that “even watching ‘Breaking Bad’ as a fan, I was like, ‘What is going on here with this very serialized character development, where there are consequences for people’s actions over multiple episodes and seasons?’ Characters can evolve — or be incapable of evolving — and there are consequences for that. It is insanely smart storytelling, writing and dialogue — and of course a brilliant cast.”
Although Seehorn had no idea about Carol Sturka’s character (the last name is a reference to a “Twilight Zone” episode), she knew Gilligan would never let her down.
Once she finally saw the script, she discovered “the incredibly messy complexity of Carol, a woman with the full breadth of humanity in her — and the inability to hide it. She’s highly reactive, impulsive and put in a position where her feelings and emotions have dire consequences. She’s grieving incredible loss and doesn’t want to get up off the floor and yet feels like she’s the only person” who can remedy the situation.
Seehorn also loved the contrasts in Carol’s character and seeing her coming face-to-face with “people who have a drastically different energy than her. That’s inherently dramatic, because it’s conflict. But it’s also inherently comedic and I thought to myself, ‘What a strange little tightrope that’s going to be to walk with Vince.’ You work your whole life as an actor for a role like that, and then you go, ‘Oh, wait, I’m playing it.’ And then you get terrified.”
Rhea Seehorn and costar Karolina Wydra in “Pluribus.”
Seehorn fell in love with acting when she was studying art at George Mason University in Virginia. She worked on– and off-Broadway and in regional theater for more than a decade while also building a career in film and TV.
She appeared as White House chief of staff Michelle York in “Veep,” and as Roxanne in the TV series “Whitney.” She won multiple awards and earned two Emmy nominations for her performance in all six seasons of “Better Call Saul.” Her upcoming films include two thrillers: “Sender,” where she stars alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, and “Eleven Days,” which also features Jason Isaacs.
Her stage work has served her well. Gilligan sometimes has just two characters on screen and the dialogue is so rich and intense that his work could easily be reimagined on stage.
“His attention to the scripts is very much like playwriting,” says Seehorn. “And the scripts are final. We can explore different ways to perform — but the scene is the scene. When we were doing ‘Better Call Saul,’ I told Vince that it felt the closest to theater since I was on stage.”
Seehorn says Gilligan and his team also use a lot of wide angles, “which means you get to use your entire body to tell a story of great loss, or an epiphany or a triumph. You use your body as much as you would your face.”
For “Pluribus,” she also worked closely with Gilligan on the tone of the scenes, which was one of the more difficult parts of the job.
Rhea Seehorn as Carol in Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV series “Pluribus.”
“It was a balancing act — a slippery one. We’d have to find these modulations, wondering how to turn the dial and go slightly more comedic here,” she says, gesturing to one side of the cocktail table at Ham Yard Hotel in Soho, “while supporting how dark we went there,” she adds, moving her hand to the other side.
“You’re doing these tiny intellectual gymnastics mixed with behavioral studies, and making itty-bitty, micro-changes to the script. Vince and I had a good time doing it,” she says.
Seehorn is not only passionate about working with Gilligan. She also loved the the sci-fi/dystopian/mind-melding element of “Pluribus.”
Some of her favorite books include “Brave New Wold,” a story that resembles “Pluribus” in many ways; “Fahrenheit 451,” and “The Dispossessed.” She’s wondering whether “Animal Farm” fits into her list of dystopian hits, but it doesn’t matter — she loves the George Orwell classic anyway.
It’s not all darkness swirling in her world. Her outfits for the London tour sparkle as much as her humor, and could not be farther away from Carol’s dreary wardrobe of baggy sweatpants, ill-fitting jeans and mumsy T-shirts (some dirt- or blood-stained) and sweaters.
She was styled by Jessica Paster for her London trip, wearing a floaty pink dress scattered with sequins for a photo shoot; a dark, tailored suit dotted with sparkles for the interview, and a strapless cream dress for the premiere, which took place in the cinema at Battersea Power Station, a few steps from Apple’s 500,000-square-foot London headquarters.
When she’s not acting — or reading — Seehorn spends her time doing crafts or repetitive tasks to occupy herself when she’s making up characters, or “unlocking” scenes. “Jigsaw puzzles, embroidery, and — if I don’t feel like painting originals — I paint by numbers. I love Lego sets — and following instructions. I’ll tile a bathroom, caulk a tub, paint a fence. I’m Huck Finn,” she says with a big laugh.
It doesn’t get any lighter than that.
