Although Rhea Seehorn's Carol Sturka doesn't appear in Pluribus' opening scene, it doesn't take long for the Apple TV show to introduce her to the story. When she appears, showrunner Vince Gilligan wastes no time quietly acknowledging the process of how his return to sci-fi took place while also installing one of the show's most compelling pieces of worldbuilding.
Pluribus' first two episodes both landed on Apple TV at once and have been met with almost universal critical acclaim — the show currently has a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the site's fan rating system has Pluribus at an impressive 85% as I write this. Pluribus' oddly peaceful apocalypse allows Gilligan to explore some pretty profound themes while also folding in some brilliant dark humor.
One of my favorite Pluribus easter eggs so far is how Apple TV displays the subtitles on certain playback systems, demonstrating a creative approach to setting up an even more immersive viewing experience than usual. That said, there is an in-universe moment during the early stages of Pluribus' first episode that's just as cool, and it sort of breaks the fourth wall.
Carol's first Pluribus' scene reveals the working title for Vince Gilligan's Apple TV show
Pluribus' title comes from the Latin phrase "e pluribus unum," which roughly translates as "out of many, one." So, Gilligan has cherry-picked the perfect word from that phrase to serve as the title of the show, as it reflects the story's central premise of most of Earth being brought together into a hive mind. Unfortunately, such a word is so loaded with meaning that an especially bright fan might have figured out part of Pluribus' plot before Gilligan was ready — if the show had been publicly produced under that name.
To prevent this from happening, the showrunner engaged in a common industry practice and initially shot Pluribus under a working title: Wycaro 339. Because Wycaro is a nonsense word followed by a string of mysterious digits, Gilligan successfully threw people off the trail as they tried to figure out what the fake title meant. It was ultimately discarded, and the show was revealed to be called Pluribus, but the word "Wycaro" does still factor into the show's story.
When Carol first appears in episode 1, "We Is Us," Seehorn's character is in the middle of a book reading/fan meet-and-greet as she brings a promotional tour for her "Winds of Wycaro" book series to its end. The in-universe literary fantasy saga inherited its name from Pluribus' working title, or perhaps it was the other way around. Either way, it's a fun easter egg for those who are aware of the show's behind-the-scenes journey.
Why Carol's Wycaro books are so important in Pluribus
Even though Carol has either always hated or grown to hate writing her romantasy novels, they still provide a fascinating insight into the character's mind. They also introduce pretty much the only mechanism that could drive the story forward after the death of Helen (Miriam Shor) and the joining of humanity. Carol understandably blames the joining for Helen's passing, and she spends most of Pluribus' two-episode premiere in a state of furious mourning as she rejects any of Earth's joined humans reaching out to her.
So, the hive mind comes up with an ingenious scheme to connect with Carol by locating the human who looks most like Carol's original female version of a key Wycaro character, Raban, and sending her to Seehorn's character as a sort of emotionally-loaded ambassador. The ploy ultimately works, and Carol starts to begin a more open dialogue with the hive mind via Zosia (Karolina Wydra).
This element of Pluribus' story is immaculately written by Vince Gilligan, as I've never seen anything like it in a show of any genre. What makes it even better is that it holds an even deeper meaning that subtly reveals more about the show's world. In short, it proves that Helen's memories are stored in the hive mind, despite her physical body dying in the mass infection that occurred in "We Is Us." Only Carol and Helen knew about Raban originally being female, but Zosia and the others don't have access to Carol's mind to extract that information. So, it could only have come from Helen.
This sets up a potential mind-bending reunion between Carol and Helen, when and if Carol is ever ready to accept that her only chance of being with her partner again is either embracing the fact that Helen technically isn't dead, or if Carol ends up joining with the rest of Earth's population. Without the Wycaro books giving Zosia a chance to reach out, Carol would probably have spent the rest of Pluribus stewing in her own rage and sadness.
Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV, with a new episode arriving every Friday until the season 1 finale on December 26, 2025.