Vince Gilligan's new show Pluribus has landed with a major impact with critics and viewers alike, and one of the breakout stars is Karolina Wydra who plays Zosia, who has mysterious ties to the main plot of the series, which I won't spoil here. But Wydra's success comes as a surprise to the actor, who was out of work and without active representation when the opportunity to co-star in Pluribus came her way.
"I always had a dream to work with Vince Gilligan, but to think it would ever be a possibility, you have to be delusional. Every actor has to be delusional on some level to go to Hollywood," Wydra tells THR. "You have to have blind faith that, someday, it’s going to work out despite millions of other actors trying to work. But I've had this dream ever since I saw Breaking Bad. I was a huge, die-hard fan. I begged my team to get me in the room for Vince Gilligan. I didn't care how big or how small the part was; I just wanted to work with Vince Gilligan."
Wydra says that her audition came after an exhaustive search to find her character, with the show's casting directors recalling her performance in 2016 horror movie Incarnate.
"It also came at a time that I didn’t have an agent or a manager. If it wasn’t for casting [Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott], I wouldn’t be here," she explains. "They searched me out and contacted me. Vince told me they looked for my character for a very, very long time. They searched the world, and they couldn’t find her. "
It seems that Gilligan wound up being quite impressed by Wydra's audition, enough to discuss her chops with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston.
"At one point, [Gilligan] said, 'I just spoke to Bryan Cranston about you.' I was like, 'What is happening? Where are the hidden cameras? Is this a joke? Here I am talking to Vince Gilligan, and he’s telling me that he talked to Bryan Cranston about me'."
New episodes of Pluribus stream every Friday on Apple TV Plus. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies, and the best Apple TV shows.
