The happiness virus that infected nearly everyone in the world of Pluribus seems to have penetrated behind the cameras, as well.
Rhea Seehorn was joined Saturday by co-stars Karolina Wydra (Zosia), Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Manousos), and Samba Schutte (Diabaté), as well as producers Gordon Smith and Jenn Carroll, and moderator Yvette Nicole Brown for a PaleyFest LA panel dedicated to Apple TV’s mega-hit. And the mutual love in the room was palpable, beginning with Seehorn, who is leading a show for the first time.
“As far as getting to be No. 1 on the call sheet or the lead of a show, this sounds like I’m being Pollyanna about it, but I took it as a responsibility,” remarked the Better Call Saul star, who plays Carol Sturka, a woman so miserable she somehow avoided being affected by the aforementioned happy hive-mind virus.
Pluribus mastermind Vince Gilligan — who was MIA from the session — enlisted Seehorn to lead his first show since wrapping the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe. The actress has already been recognized with wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, with Emmy season rapidly approaching. Nominations will be announced July 8, and Seehorn is predicted to land a nod, per the latest Gold Derby odds.
“Now I have a brighter light that I can shine on people,” Seehorn told the fan-packed crowd. “That’s important to me to bring them all up, from my cast and creators through every department.”
‘Pluribus’ at PaleyFest LA 2026Courtesy of The Paley Center for Media
Much of the Q&A was a Seehorn love-fest, with Wydra saying: “It’s been such an honor, such an incredible experience, to have a No. 1 on the show who’s so caring, so generous, and so incredibly talented. You’re a true girl’s girl.
“You are there and you’ve got everyone’s back,” Wydra continued. “You make everybody feel a part of the show. If there’s a guest star or anybody that comes in, you always go up to them and say, ‘Hello, and do you want to run lines?’ It’s such a beautiful quality that you have that I admire.”
Karolina Wydra at PaleyFest LA 2026Earl Gibson III/Deadline
Brown — who has worked in Hollywood for decades — reminded the audience that “it’s not like that on every set.”
“When we got to Albuquerque, Rhea came to the production office and she asked for two things on the first day,” producer-writer Carroll recalled. “The first was the back of the call sheet that had the names of the crew, and a printout of the whole crew list, so she could start memorizing them. She wanted to know that before day one.
“The second thing she asked for was a meeting with me, the other producers, and the first AD to talk about hours,” Carroll continued. “We had a long shoot ahead of us, and we knew we didn’t want to punish the crew. She’s like, ‘I’m No. 1 on the call sheet, and I’m the leader here, and I need to use my power to make sure everybody around me has the ability to do their best work, and we need to be able to sleep to do that.’ And we were all on the same page, from Vince on down.”
Seehorn praised her fellow actors, reminding them: “If the producers direct you and modulate you tiny bits this way and that way, don’t shut down and think, ‘It must be because I suck.’ It’s because they think you’re great. They literally want to see you. All three of these guys just rose to the occasion, times 10,000.”
Schutte interjected: “It’s because you’re so giving and because you’re such a great scene partner.”
Seehorn also gave a “shout-out to Miriam Shor,” who played Carol’s late wife, Helen. Seehorn described Carol as “a fault finder” who always says the negative things that others are thinking. “Moments of joy are as worthwhile as moments of sorrow, and it’s OK to invest in both, and she just wouldn’t,” she explained. “She’s also very afraid of being happy. We’ve all been there.”
The producers also provided an update on Season 2, which Gilligan previously said would not be released in 2026.
“We’re going to discover that all of this show is actually a dream while she is in the process of joining,” joked Gordon. “I think it won’t be Season 2; it’ll probably be like Season 6 or 7.”
“We are in the writers’ room right now,” Carroll said. “It’s going really well, and we’re having a great time, and we’re debating all of these things. We really want you guys to love what we come up with. We are working as hard and as fast as we can. We really appreciate everyone being so patient with us. But we do hope to be back in production before the end of the year.”