Pluribus' Crew Pranked Rhea Seehorn With A Better Call Saul Cameo

"Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" creator Vince Gilligan has taken a bold step into the sci-fi genre with his new series "Pluribus," but he's taken that step with plenty of old friends by his side. Rhea Seehorn, who stars as romantasy author Carol Sturka, is just one of more than 150 cast members and behind-the-scenes talent from "Better Call Saul" who have joined Gilligan in his latest venture.

In the latest episode of "Pluribus," titled "Got Milk," Carol wakes up to find herself alone, having seemingly been abandoned by the viral hivemind of 'Others' that almost every other human on Earth has merged into. To reassure her, the Others have set up a recorded phone message telling Carol that their feelings have not changed, but they just need some space. Devoted Gilligan fans quickly recognized the smooth voice on the recording as belonging to none other than Patrick Fabian, who starred alongside Seehorn in "Better Call Saul" as suave corporate lawyer Howard G. Hamlin.

This cameo wasn't just a surprise for fans — it was a surprise for Seehorn herself. The "Pluribus" crew deliberately kept Fabian's cameo a secret from her so that they could film her live reaction to hearing his voice on the phone. 

"They were hoping to get some kind of blooper take from me," Seehorn told TV Guide, explaining that she managed not to break character because she didn't want to mess up such a long take. "They called cut, and I started laughing and ran out and said, 'That's Patrick! You got Patrick!' And they said they'd been sitting on it for a long time, just to screw with me."

"Got Milk" cuts between two different shots when Carol first starts listening to the recording, and it's hard to tell whether either of them is from that first take where Seehorn was surprised by Patrick Fabian's cameo. As Seehorn explained to TV Guide, she did her best to keep a solid poker face:

"I don't know which take they actually use, but I think if you got one of those psychologists or psychiatrists that study micro facial muscle changes, I'm pretty sure you could see me go, 'What? Patrick?' But then I tried to cover and play the scene."

On the official "Pluribus" podcast, episode writer Ariel Levine admitted, "We fully expected her to break. We were all standing around waiting, just giggling in the corner like, 'It's coming, here it comes.'" 

The prank might not have gotten the big blooper they were hoping for, but executive producer and episode director Gordon Smith reflected:

"It worked to the degree that it can with somebody that is as good as Rhea, which is she heard it, she did her job, she stayed in her business, we called cut, and she said, 'Was that Patrick?!' She broke right the moment we cut and was like, 'Excuse me, nobody said that was going to be Patrick.'"

Vince Gilligan has already thrown cold water on the possibility of a full-blown crossover between the "Breaking Bad" universe and "Pluribus," but that leaves plenty of room for fun Easter eggs like this one. When Carol took an intercontinental flight in the show's second episode she did so on a Wayfarer plane, the same airline whose plane suffered a devastating crash in "Breaking Bad" season 2. And in the first episode of "Pluribus" she's seen drinking some pricy Macallan scotch — Howard Hamlin's favorite for celebrating legal victories in "Better Call Saul."

Though Howard was a longtime rival of protagonist Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) in the show, their enmity was largely one-sided on Saul's part and many fans developed a fondness for Fabian's smarmy, smooth-talking lawyer. As Seehorn reflected to TV Guide, the actor was pretty much the perfect choice to record that highly sensitive "we need some space" message:

"Let's face it, even if it wasn't an Easter egg from 'Better Call Saul,' Patrick Fabian does have one of the all-time great voices that I would imagine that the Others would have voted as one of the most soothing voices to be on the outgoing message ... so I understand the decision."

New episodes of "Pluribus" release Fridays on Apple TV.