News Pluribus Vince Gilligan Explains Why His New Sci-Fi Show Pluribus Stars a Frustrated Romantasy Author In Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s observations on the modern world include a Romantasy author who has had enough. By Matthew Byrd | Published on October 28, 2025 Photo: Apple TV Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Apple TV We still don’t know a lot about Vince Gilligan’s upcoming sci-fi show Pluribus, which is exactly the way the Breaking Bad creator likes it. Gilligan is cashing in his blank check on a big, weird genre series, and he’s made it clear that you’re better off knowing as little as possible going into this show about its protagonist Carol: a woman who is mysteriously immune to a virus that makes nearly everyone else in the world eternally happy. However, in a recent interview with AV Club, Gilligan did drop one fascinating new tidbit about Pluribus: Carol is actually a frustrated romantasy author. When asked why he decided to give Carol such a specific profession, Gilligan offered a surprisingly self-reflective answer. “I just liked the idea of a writer trying to save the world a lot,” Gilligan explains. “I was thinking about different professions, like what if she were a florist or something instead? When you think of someone who saves the world, you’d want a Liam Neeson or a Tom Cruise. You don’t want a writer. That’s about the last person in the world you want tasked with saving humanity because we’re all a bunch of inept idiots.” Gilligan doesn’t need to go out there and start spilling our secrets, but that’s a more than fair observation. Still, writers have been unlikely protagonists for quite some time. Just look at the foundation of Stephen King’s empire. Why did Gilligan choose a romantasy author specifically? “I started thinking about what kind of writer Carol should be,” Gilligan says. “I can say from 30-plus years of experience that screenwriters are boring. And romance authors just seem more colorful, fun, and interesting.” Again, fair, though for what it’s worth, Gilligan suggests elsewhere that Carol is a frustrated and somewhat self-loathing romantasy writer. It’s a detail that not only supports Gilligan’s other thoughts on writer protagonists, but his professed love for protagonists that are frustrated outsiders. “Sometimes I walk into a restaurant, and I get this feeling that everybody knows each other, and I’m the only one who’s a stranger,” Gilligan muses. “So I like a hero who is not fully equipped for the task. Carol Sturka wants to save the world, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be done by her. She doesn’t need the credit. She just assumes someone else will take the reins of this thing… those are the kind of stories I like, where the audience can say, ‘You know, I don’t know if she’s even doing the right thing. I know her heart’s in the right place, but is she even doing the right thing?’” We’ll see if Carol does the right thing when Pluribus starts streaming on Apple TV on November 7. [end-mark] The post Vince Gilligan Explains Why His New Sci-Fi Show <i>Pluribus</i> Stars a Frustrated Romantasy Author appeared first on Reactor.