Before Pluribus, Vince Gilligan Created An X-Files-Style TV Pilot About A Virus

If there's one TV show "Breaking Bad" is most often compared to, it's "The Sopranos." Both mix crime drama with dark comedy, depict an antihero who's a suburban dad and crime boss, and are in fierce competition for "best TV drama ever" title. Bryan Cranston has said outright: "Without Tony Soprano, there is no Walter White."

But while "The Sopranos" may be the biggest stylistic influence on "Breaking Bad," there's another show even more pivotal to its existence: "The X-Files." Vince Gilligan, creator of "Breaking Bad," made his screenwriting bones on the sci-fi procedural. He joined in season 2 and penned several episodes right up until the end of the show's original run; funnily enough, one of Gilligan's "X-Files" episodes even starred Cranston. That connection, coupled with Gilligan's experience in the "X-Files" writers' room, is the foundation on which "Breaking Bad" was built.

Gilligan's latest series, Apple TV's hit "Pluribus," pivots away from "Breaking Bad" and brings him back to his science-fiction roots. But he almost went back earlier. After the end of "X-Files" in 2002, Gilligan faced an uphill battle pitching "Breaking Bad." One of the shows he tried, and failed, to get off the ground during that time was called "A.M.P.E.D." Co-written by Gilligan and fellow "X-Files" alum Frank Spotnitz, "A.M.P.E.D." was produced for Spike TV in 2007, but ultimately, the pilot wasn't picked up and went unaired. 

While the show is a distant memory, Gilligan spoke about it on the "Pluribus" press tour with the A.V. Club:

"['A.M.P.E.D.'] was about an epidemic that turned people into various things, so it was not like 'Pluribus,' per se. It was more of a cop show, and how a robbery homicide division dealt with it. It was like a Michael Mann show crossed with 'X-Files.' That should've been picked up."

Good luck searching for the "A.M.P.E.D." pilot online, but some scant contemporary reporting about the production still exists. The series would've been set in Minneapolis and starred two partnered detectives. Actors Lee Tergesen and Tony Curran were cast as the co-leads, Detectives Brian Spicer and Mark Jacocks, who sound like the good and bad cop of the pairing, respectively.

While "Pluribus" also explores an extraordinary virus, the effects are the exact opposite of the one from "A.M.P.E.D." Per a press synopsis and excerpts of the pilot script (preserved on Tergesen's website), the virus would have induced genetic mutations, such as discolored skin and/or eyes, and cause the afflicted to become destructive. 

The virus in "Pluribus" causes no physical changes but, mentally, it turns the infected into a blissful hive mind. Rather than making people aggressive like the virus in "A.M.P.E.D.", the "Pluribus" virus makes them too friendly and eager to please. Gilligan acknowledged these differences in his A.V. Club interview, where he also explained how he came up with "Pluribus:"

"I was thinking about a character about eight or nine years ago. I was thinking about a guy who, suddenly, the world is very nice to him, and they love him. He hasn't done anything particularly to deserve it, but they just love this guy. They will do anything for him, anything."

Gilligan sat on the idea and, looking for an excuse to work with Rhea Seehorn again after "Better Call Saul," he changed the lead character to a woman. "A.M.P.E.D." sounds intriguing, but the set-up of normal detectives investigating the supernatural is very reminiscent of "The X-Files." "Breaking Bad," and now "Pluribus," let Gilligan stretch his talents as a writer with bold new premises.