‘Pluribus’ Star Rhea Seehorn Breaks Down Carol’s Escalation in the Season Finale https://t.co/vJ4TZiOoVx
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 26, 2025
Soon-to-be-Golden-Globe-winner-or-else & professional hater Rhea Seehorn breaks down Carol’s mental state at the end of season 1
[trying to allow herself to float in the direction of the current]On the parting glance between Carol and Zosia in the helicopter: “She’s so angry, but also so hurt. She just feels so incredibly betrayed. She had some real feelings for Zosia, and she feels like an idiot that she thought Zosia had real feelings for her…”
On the hive’s manipulations: “…she’s been doing mental gymnastics to remain in this playing-house kind of fantasy world. Frankly, the alternative – which she just found out about through [40 days of] isolation – is to die alone in her house and never speak to anybody again. So she’s trying to allow herself to float in the direction of the current for a little while. Some of that’s fatigue, some of it’s delusion, some of it’s desperation, some of it’s grief, some of it’s primal.”
On whether Carol actually wants to save the world, or if she just wants to save herself: “It’s a good question… How heroic are you if you only do it when you’re threatened?… it isn’t until her own independence is threatened again that she decides, “I’ve got to go back and fight the fight.” But to be fair, so far, other than the dude who shows up with a machete and wants to kill everyone – everyone else [meaning the other Old Schoolers] has told her to leave them alone and that they’re absolutely fine [living] this way. So what was the fight she was going to fight? And that’s part of her capitulation. She was just like, “I am tired of being ‘Old Man Yells at Clouds’ from the Simpsons. Nobody cares.””
On knowing what’s ahead for season 2: “I know nothing.”
[karolina and vince behind the cut]
‘Pluribus’ Star Karolina Wydra Explains Her Optimistic Take on Season One’s Ominous Ending https://t.co/xZUDOsSVZT
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 27, 2025
Stursia’s #1 shipper & ray of sunshine Karolina Wydra has a “glass-half-full” position on season 1’s nuclear ending.
[are you sure about whatever it is that you are doing]On the parting glance between Carol and Zosia in the helicopter: “What [the parting glance] was for me is that maybe there’s somehow still a chance [to reconsider]. It’s not goodbye forever; it’s just, ‘Are you sure about whatever it is that you’re doing? Are you sure about the atom bomb? Are you sure about whatever is the next chapter?'”
On knowing about the romance between Carol and Zosia: “I don’t know if we had that conversation when we tested. He didn’t reveal to me where the season was going to go, so I don’t think I knew that. And I don’t know when I found out, to be honest with you. I wonder if I found out when I got the script [for 108], and we had the conversation about their first kiss and what it means.” (OP: That late?? Girl..)
On Zosia being Polish: “They did a vast casting across the world. Whoever Vince found, the character would’ve been named after [whatever their background is]. The fake sides had a woman named Anna, and when I got the [first two] scripts, her name was Yara. Then they changed it to Zosia when I got cast. They decided to give her a Polish name, which I thought was pretty cool. I felt very honored.”
‘Pluribus’ Creator Vince Gilligan Explains That Ominous Finale Punchline and What Lies Ahead in Season 2 https://t.co/Z6YnNiZC3r
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 25, 2025
American Winnie the Pooh Vince Gilligan + senior writers/exec producers Gordon Smith & Alison Tatlock give THR their own takes:
[sometimes the line between caring for somebody and trying to comfort them and trying to manipulate them gets a little fuzzy]Tatlock on whether everything the Others do is manipulation: “In order to wrap our heads around it, we sometimes compare them to overly solicitous grandparents. Do one’s overly solicitous grandparents love their grandchildren? Yes. And is that love genuine? Yes. And might they offer them candy in order for them to be quiet in the car? Yes. And is that manipulative? Yes. So all of that we felt could be true, and sometimes the line between caring for somebody and trying to comfort them and trying to manipulate them gets a little fuzzy.”
On whether the Joined even recognizes that they’re manipulating Carol:
Gilligan: Can you think of examples in real life where people are manipulating without knowing it? I think the answer is yes.
Tatlock: You manipulate somebody to get off the ledge when they’re about to jump, but you also save their life.
Gilligan on the possibility of a physical release of Pluribus: “I like owning the thing. I don’t like renting it through the ether until it just goes away one day… So we definitely want to have a physical version of this show; that is absolutely our intention.”
