Why Pluribus Creator Vince Gilligan Wanted A Different Name For His Apple TV Series

Vince Gilligan's sci-fi series "Pluribus" has an intriguing and bleak premise. After some astronomers discover a mysterious signal from outer space, scientists use it to develop an RNA sequence. It turns out the sequence is really an extra-terrestrial virus that causes almost every human infected with it to link up mentally and form a single consciousness. When most people are infected, they either fall into a coma for a few minutes and reawaken as part of the hive mind ... or they die. Due to an outbreak, the virus quickly spreads across the globe, but here's the thing: Being psychically connected causes the infected humans to develop a sense of euphoria, peace, and togetherness. There are no individuals anymore, so the planet can now operate in true harmony.

The main character of "Pluribus" is Carol (Rhea Seehorn), a bitter, alcoholic author of trashy fantasy-romance novels. Carol is one of only 12 people on Earth who is unaffected by the virus, and she is rightfully horrified. Finding the notion of losing her individuality immensely distasteful (and beset with grief when someone close to her becomes one of millions who don't survive being infected), Carol rebuffs the hive mind's attempts to seduce her and the other 12 survivors and bring them into the fold.

The title of "Pluribus," of course, is a Latin word derived from the motto "e pluribus unum," meaning "out of many, one." With everyone on Earth part of a hive mind, many have become one. It's a fitting title. However, when Gilligan spoke with Tech Radar in October 2025, he revealed that "Pluribus" was actually one of 100 titles that he and his collaborators had considered for the series. He also confessed that he disliked the title "Pluribus," but he couldn't come up with a good alternative.

It should be noted that there's an additional twist to the series: When Carol gets angry, her emotions overwhelm the placid populace ... and can kill them. Early in the show, one of her outbursts leads to the deaths of 11 million people. Carol, obviously, tries to keep her temper upon learning about this, but she still values her individuality and refuses to be, essentially, assimilated by the Happiness Borg. "Pluribus" is about a sad, horrified woman who must resist the onslaught of placid happiness. It's a novel premise for a series.

Gilligan admitted, though, that neither he nor his hardworking writing team could come up with a title he personally liked, even after years of developing the show. As he explained:

"We'd be working on the show, and every week or so I'd say, 'We gotta come up with a damn title for this thing. What is it?' We had a list of over 100 titles. We had 'Pluribus' pretty early on, and I said, 'No, it's gotta be something else'. And then we came back to it after about two years. I could not think of a title that really satisfied me, but now that we've lived with it for a while and now that it's out in the world, it, it seems to me like, yeah, 'Why was that so hard?'"

Because it's part of the United States motto, Gilligan noted that the title "Pluribus" would lead viewers to assume it's a series about America specifically. In truth, as he observed, it's pointedly a worldwide show. It's not about American democracy, it's about a global community ... and a hive mind. Indeed, many non-American actors appear on the series. "Pluribus" merely means "many."