Vince Gilligan hadn’t even let the dust settle on Better Call Saul before cooking up something entirely new. Over the weekend, Apple TV+ dropped a teaser for Pluribus that’s barely half a minute long, yet it manages to unsettle, intrigue, and raise eyebrows in record time. It shows a woman calmly licking glazed doughnuts, then popping them back in the box beside a cheery note: “Help yourself 🙂”. It’s equal parts playground prank and psychological threat, hardly the sunny vibe one expects from free pastries. Gilligan, ever the mischief-maker, seems ready to swap meth labs for moral quandaries.
From doughnuts to destiny
Apple’s synopsis is deliciously absurd: “The unhappiest person on Earth is the only one who can save humanity… from happiness.” That chronically miserable soul is played by Rhea Seehorn, whose turn as Kim Wexler earned her a permanent seat in the TV hall of fame. If anyone can sell existential despair with wit and warmth, it’s Seehorn. Gilligan joked last year that his next show would feature “no crime, no methamphetamine”, but on the evidence so far, the stakes might be even stranger. Perhaps bliss itself is the new blue stuff — dangerously addictive and in need of regulation.
Who’s joining the party?
Seehorn isn’t flying solo. The cast also includes Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, and Miriam Shor, a line-up eclectic enough to suggest Gilligan has more than one rabbit up his sleeve. And while he’s steering the ship, he won’t be the only hand on the tiller: Oscar-winning animator Byron Howard (Tangled, Encanto) is co-directing. That pairing — Gilligan’s razor-sharp storytelling and Howard’s knack for visual wonder — hints at a tone that could swing between unsettling realism and whimsical flights of fancy. If Pluribus ends up sitting somewhere between Breaking Bad and Zootopia, we’re all in for a ride.
When and how to watch
Formerly known by its working title Wycaro 339, Pluribus lands on Apple TV+ on 7 November 2025, just in time for cosy, dark evenings. The eight-episode run will unspool weekly, wrapping up on Boxing Day. Apple has already rubber-stamped a second series, a show of confidence that Gilligan’s peculiar premise will hook viewers faster than you can say “Lick-and-return doughnut”. Expect a full trailer later in the summer, though if his past form is any guide, we’ll still be left guessing until the final credits roll.
Why it might be Gilligan’s boldest move yet
Stepping outside the Albuquerque crime universe for the first time in nearly two decades, Gilligan is effectively starting from scratch. That alone makes Pluribus fascinating: no Heisenberg cameos, no cartel gunfights, just a brand-new sandbox with fresh rules. Yet the DNA of his earlier work lingers — flawed characters, moral tightropes, and a sly sense of humour. Add in the question of what “saving humanity from happiness” actually looks like, and you’ve got a series that feels equal parts fable and social experiment.
If Gilligan can turn a chemistry teacher’s mid-life crisis into one of television’s greatest sagas, imagine what he might do with the world’s saddest woman and a box of tainted doughnuts. We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, perhaps keep an eye on your office snack tray — you never know who’s plotting to save the planet, one sugar-glazed sabotage at a time.
