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Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is soon returning to our screens with new sci-fi show Pluribus, a total enigma starring Better Call Saul's Rhea Seahorn.
Of course, Gilligan is pretty famous for creating two of TV's most famous anti-heroes in the form of Walter White and Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman. But, he's keen on more out and out good guys.
"I was getting a little weary of writing bad guys – I was looking around at the world and it just feels like a lot of people, not naming any names, but a lot of people seem to publicly take a lot of delight in taking the way they behave in life, taking their cues from people like Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone and Walter White, even," Gilligan told The Hollywood Reporter.
"I can't speak for those other show and movie creators but for me, Walter White was always meant to be a cautionary tale; he's not aspirational," he continued. "I would never tell any other writer what they should be writing and there's a lot of good bad guys left to write and I'm sure there will be a lot of great ones created from here on into eternity, but I figure for me I was ready to write something a little different."
This isn't the first time Gilligan has expressed this sentiment. "For decades, we made the villains too sexy," he said earlier this year. "I really think that. When we create characters as indelible as Michael Corleone or Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader or Tony Soprano, viewers everywhere, all around the world, they pay attention. They say, 'Man, those dudes are badass. I want to be that cool.' When that happens, fictional bad guys stop being the cautionary player that they were created to be. God help us, they become aspirational. So maybe what the world needs now are some good, old fashioned, Greatest Generation types who give more than they take. Who think that kindness, tolerance and sacrifice aren't strictly for chumps."
As for Pluribus, the show is so far a total mystery. It follows Seehorn's Carol Sturka, who is seemingly the only person immune to a virus that transforms the world's populace into perfectly happy people.
"The scope of it is globetrotting, world-spanning," Gilligan told GamesRadar+ recently. "I think we've learned – my producers and I, together – to be better producers over the years… The size of this thing is not something we would have attempted or could have succeeded at maybe five or 10 years ago."
Pluribus kicks off on Apple TV this November 7. You can keep up to date with our Pluribus release schedule, and fill out your watchlist with our guide to the most exciting upcoming shows.
