Pluribus — Behind The Scenes: Creating Carol | Apple TV

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:01]Hey, cheers.

[00:00:02]To the best tour yet.

[00:00:04]I wrote Pluribus for Rhea Seehorn.

[00:00:07]I really wanted to work with her again after Better Call Saul, and I knew this was a character who has a lot of emotions run through her over the course of the season.

[00:00:17]There's a lot of sadness.

[00:00:18]There's a lot of anger, bitterness.

[00:00:21]There's a lot of loneliness.

[00:00:23]There's a lot of fear.

[00:00:24]Having to be kind and having to be happy, and having to be palatable in public, and feeling as though that's not truthfully you.

[00:00:34]Do I seem troubled?

[00:00:37]This is me happy.

[00:00:38]Carol is facing that.

[00:00:39]And I— I find that journey to be very interesting, too.

[00:00:43]These questions of what happiness means.

[00:00:46]I slept well at night, knowing I had an actor, a number one on the call sheet, who could pull off all of these moments.

[00:00:54]You don't think it sounds wonderful?

[00:00:58]I'm not sure how functional I would be in a world where you literally told me I'm alone alone in the whole world.

[00:01:05]Yeah.

[00:01:06]But I like to think I'd get back up, and I'm proud of her that she does.

[00:01:09]I think you would.

[00:01:10]I think, eventually.

[00:01:11]I think I would.

[00:01:11]- I think it would take me - I think you would, yeah.

[00:01:12]a couple weeks.

[00:01:13]The show would be longer.

[00:01:14]It'd be like the first three or four episodes would just be like watching even more Golden Girls.

[00:01:18]Way more Golden Girls would be involved, for sure.

[00:01:22]In the writers' room, we came to call her an insufferable hero.

[00:01:26]Like, she has heroic aspirations— But know this.

[00:01:32]You are traitors!

[00:01:35]You are traitors to the human race!

[00:01:38]But because she is also a little bit spoiled, in her own way.

[00:01:43]I don't want you waiting on me.

[00:01:46]I just want my Sprouts back.

[00:01:48]That's part of what I love about her, too, is we— we didn't have to write a so-called, "strong woman," which has become a kind of stereotype on its own.

[00:01:57]Anybody listening out there?

[00:01:59]Huh?

[00:01:59]How about it, you twelve?

[00:02:00]Any response?

[00:02:02]She keeps rising to the occasion, and this exploration of what it means to be unlikeable, and to still find your center and keep going, is something I greatly admire.

[00:02:11]And that she's still fighting.

[00:02:13]Your books are an expression of you.

[00:02:15]And we love you.

[00:02:17]No offense, Larry, but, uh… I think you're bull******** me.

[00:02:21]Oh.

[00:02:22]A lot of times, they have my character quite economic with language.

[00:02:26]Not a lot of speaking.

[00:02:27]And we had an episode where I almost don't speak at all.

[00:02:31]They believe the audience is smart enough to be able to follow story without being told what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling all the time.

[00:02:36]It's something we learned on Better Call Saul, or I feel like I learned that.

[00:02:39]I had never experienced it before, that you could write in a stage direction, something psychological, something that the character is actually remembering or thinking about, and that Rhea would radiate that through her face.

[00:02:52]It's quite, quite a gift.

[00:02:54]That was the best yet.

[00:02:55]That was awesome.

[00:02:55]Excellent job.

[00:02:56]When Carol is looking at the grave that she's made for her wife.

[00:03:03]Ariel had written a very nice description of just what's going on.

[00:03:06]She's looking— she's feeling these things, but you don't know what you're going to get.

[00:03:09]And Rhea does this little thing where she's like, "No no. This is for real.

[00:03:14]This is forever."

[00:03:15]And she has a kind of, "I miss you, Kid" look that just goes across her face, and it's like, it's— it's heartbreaking.