Apple TV has released a season 1 blooper video for Pluribus, giving viewers a fresh look at the show even as the second season still has not started filming. The footage shows Rhea Seehorn dancing, laughing and struggling to open a bottle of Gatorade, a quick reminder of why the series has become a draw beyond its story about Carol Sturka and an alien virus that swallowed nearly all of humanity.
The timing matters because Pluribus arrived with a two-season order and a rare level of momentum. Vince Gilligan's series has a 99% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and became the most-watched show in Apple TV history, so any new clip lands in front of an audience that is already paying attention.
The blooper reel also gives the cast a chance to break character in ways the finished episodes never could. Seehorn appears making silly faces alongside Karolina Wydra and Samba Schutte, while Carlos-Manuel Vesga falls and jokes during the jungle sequence tied to Manousos Oviedo. For a show built around dead-serious stakes, the outtakes are a welcome contrast.
That contrast also underlines the gap between what Apple TV is promoting now and what the production is ready to deliver next. In early June, Gordon Smith said the writers were about midway through season 2 and hoped to get back to shooting by the end of this year or early next year. In late June, Seehorn said she was unsure when filming would begin. By July, Matt Cherniss said early drafts were being seen and that progress was moving at a good pace, but also that it would be tough for the show to fit into the next Emmy Award eligibility cycle because Pluribus is such a complicated show.
The ending of season 1 leaves the next chapter with plenty of fuel: Carol and Manousos end up together with an atomic bomb now in their possession. That is where the real hold is. Apple TV can keep feeding fans bloopers, but the next real development is still the same one it was weeks ago — when the scripts are finished and when cameras finally roll on a season that was ordered, acclaimed and is still waiting to begin.
