Rhea Seehorn and ‘Pluribus’ Cast Debate the Hive Mind, Ask Burning Questions and Give Season 2 Update

To give into the hive mind or not?

In “Pluribus,” book author Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and 11 other strangers are the only individuals left on Earth after everybody else mysteriously merges into what is called the hive mind – a collective joining of consciousness.

Six months since the acclaimed first season finished airing on Apple TV, cast members Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga and Samba Schutte are still debating their take — and their characters’ choices — when it comes to life in a world where almost everyone is a part of the same hive mind.

“I love how [Mr. Diabaté has] the valid counterpoints to Carol’s arguments,” Schutte told Variety‘s executive TV editor Michael Schneider during a recent “Pluribus” Variety x Apple TV screening and conversation. “It’s true, as annoying as he might be, he has valid counterpoints. There’s no racism in the world, there’s no discrimination, there’s no war, there’s no crime. We can have whatever we want, we can be whatever we want. Isn’t this the world we all wanted?”

“There’s no consent! It’s fine,” Seehorn added with a laugh.

Executive producer Gordon Smith, who also worked with show creator Vince Gilligan on “Better Call Saul,” touched on the disconnect between Carol and the rest of the survivors: “Get 11 people in the world that you know right now in a room, see if you can get them to agree on something. It’s a challenge and I feel that’s one of the things the show is about – what a huge distance it is from me to you. What a huge distance it is to just talk to somebody and be outside yourself and see the world from their point of view. It’s almost an incommensurable distance.”

The cast dug into how they approached playing their respective characters, and what drew them to the show. Seehorn said, “I loved playing with that idea of this woman’s anger [having] horrific consequences in the world, and I found that very interesting. But it is also a bit of a superpower.”

Vesga said of playing the stubborn survivor Manousos (who is Colombian, but lives in Paraguay): “I keep coming back to the fact that he has lost his world once. He had to leave his country for another country and his identity was left behind once before. So this time, he’s not willing to let that happen again. He’s not willing to negotiate.”

Schneider then asked the cast to dive into their burning questions. “I wonder if Carol lost a child before everything?” Vesga said, much to the shock of Seehorn. “I wonder if that’s why Helen puts up with her to begin with.”

The good news for “Pluribus” fans is that a Season 2 is on the way, meaning some burning questions will soon be answered.

“We are working as hard as we can and as fast as we can, which isn’t very fast, but it is the best we can do,” Smith said. “We are writing, we’re about midway through Season 2, breaking it. We’re doing the best we can and we’re hoping to get back to work shooting sometime hopefully by the end of this year or early next year.”