Apple TV's Pluribus Might Not Have The Type Of Twist Fans Expect

Apple TV's big new sci-fi series, "Pluribus," is a new spin on a familiar sci-fi classic. That classic is, of course, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" which has been reinterpreted several times but which many viewers will remember from the 1978 film by Phillip Kaufman. The movie saw Donald Sutherland's Matthew Bennell discover that human beings were being replaced by alien duplicates, only to become one of them himself in the film's shocking final moments. If you're expecting a similar twist with "Pluribus," however, you should probably temper your expectations.

The series follows Rhea Seehorn's romantasy author Carol Sturka, who becomes one of only a handful of people on the planet able to resist the effects of a virus which turns everybody else into quietly attentive, overly conscientious drones. During a Q&A for the new series (via Dexerto), Seehorn and her co-star Karolina Wydra (who plays Zosia in the show) said that viewers shouldn't be too quick to make up their minds about the virus, which in the show appears to have an extraterrestrial origin.

The actors' comments sort of suggest there's more to the story than a simple alien invasion via virus plot, but creator Vince Gilligan quickly jumped in to throw cold water on the idea that "Pluribus" is building towards a dramatic twist. "We're all used to M. Night Shyamalan movies with great twists," he said. "Sometimes the best twist is not much of a twist at all. From everything you've seen, you might know all you need to know." So, don't expect Carol to suddenly become part of the alien hive mind by the end of "Pluribus."

Vince Gilligan seems to have a lot to say about our modern age with "Pluribus," which not only features a plainly anti-AI message in its credits, but also deals with themes that have clear real-world parallels. The virus that propagates enforced happiness, for example, reflects a similar tendency in the social media age, whereby everybody is presenting an always-contented, blissfully happy version of themselves. The show also plays on the tension between the fact the unctuous hive mind of minions have brought about world peace and the fact that they're no longer individuals. It will be interesting to see where Gilligan and his writers take the show as it plays out, but one thing we won't be seeing is a big twist.

At the Q&A, Gilligan reportedly went on to refer to the pilot episode — specifically, the moment when Carol Sturka speaks to the head of the hive mind via her TV and learns more about what's happening to her fellow Earthlings. It seems, then, that this early scene might contain much of the information fans need to figure out what the heck is going on in "Pluribus," which is sort of refreshing. 

Alien movies often have great twists, and while this narrative technique can work to catch audiences off-guard in a way that enhances the movie's central message, twists can also function as gimmicky tricks that distract from the lack of a decent story. With "Pluribus" coming from the man behind "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," there's no danger of a lack of story, but it is sort of nice to know Gilligan and co. were less focused on twists than on the story itself.