Because Apple TV revealed so little about Pluribus' premise before release, the show's double-episode premiere unleashed an avalanche of information at once about Vince Gilligan's new sci-fi universe. Once I'd settled into the story and figured out what was going on, I started to combine this fresh lore with the morsels of information that were embedded within Pluribus' cryptic trailers. Then, I formulated a theory about what could happen down the line.
As it turns out, my theory was only partially correct. While my prediction itself was entirely accurate, I really hadn't expected to be proven right before the end of Pluribus' first episode. I thought the twist would have been reserved for deeper into the show's run. As it turns out, Gilligan decided it was essential to get that particular element of the show into action as soon as reasonably possible.
FULL SPOILERS for Pluribus episodes 1 and 2 below.
I easily guessed that Carol wouldn't be Pluribus' only immune character
For all of Pluribus' unpredictable and original elements, the story would have ground to a halt if Rhea Seehorn's character had been the only one omitted from humanity's psychic binding. If everyone else on Earth were part of the same hive mind, it would have been a constant and unwinnable battle between Carol and billions of peaceful members of a shared consciousness. There isn't really anywhere interesting to go from there from a storytelling point of view. As such, I was fairly certain Carol wouldn't be a unique case.
That said, the Apple TV teasers certainly made it seem like there wouldn't be any other immune characters. The other occasional soundbites from Gilligan also implied that Carol would be acting alone while trying to say humanity from Pluribus' oddly peaceful take on the end of the world. No one openly declared this would be the case, but it was clearly the impression the show's intentionally restrictive marketing was attempting to establish.
Why Pluribus reveals its big immunity twist at the end of its first episode
Vince Gillian is an incredibly talented and innovative writer, as proven by his work on projects like The X-Files and the Breaking Bad franchise. He has a reputation for his surprising his audience in cool new ways, so he has no real need to withhold the somewhat predictable reveal of other immune Pluribus characters. While it would be a landmark moment in similar sci-fi shows, it seems as though Gilligan is getting the narrative inevitability out of the way as soon as possible so he can focus on other, more interesting, facets of the story.
That said, the mystery of Carol's immunity, along with the immunity of the other outliers, isn't over. Although Gilligan included the twist in the show's first episode, the following installment didn't actually solve anything. It all but moved on to other storylines. There's still no explanation for why certain people weren't swept up in the viral spread of contentment, nor do we know if they all have something specific in common that allowed them to retain their sense of self.
It's possible that the showrunner will eventually provide more of a reason for why the "psychic glue" wasn't entirely universal in its success rate, but he may also not see doing so as an absolute necessity. The show already seems to be using sci-fi more as a vehicle to tell a profound story about individualism, rather than the genre serving as a platform for in-depth worldbuilding. Either way, I'm sure Gilligan has an immaculate roadmap for Pluribus' future, and that any further twists will likely make the immunity subplot seem inconsequential by comparison.
A new episode of Pluribus is currently being released by Apple TV every Friday until the season 1 finale on December 26, 2025.