Star Of ‘Pluribus’ Rhea Seehorn
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross.
What is the premise of the Apple TV series Pluribus?
One of the most talked-about TV series now is the Apple TV series Pluribus, created by Vince Gilligan. It stars my guest Rae Sehorne. You may know her as the co-star of Better Call Saul, which was both a prequel and sequel to Breaking Bad. Sehorne and Pluribus were just each nominated for a Golden Globe. In Pluribus, Sehorne plays Carol, a writer of best-selling romance novels. Her life partner, Helen, is her manager. One night, Carol and Helen are leaving a bar when Helen has a seizure and dies. Suddenly, everyone around Carol in the bar and in the ER are frozen in place or have fallen down and having a seizure.
How did Rae Sehorne become the lead in Pluribus?
And then most of them get up and seem changed. They're talking and walking in unison. Their faces are somewhere between happy and hypnotized. What's going on? Back home, when Carol turns on the TV looking for a news show that might explain, all the channels are blank, except C-SPAN. A man on that channel is at a White House podium talking directly to Carol by name. He gives her a phone number to call for more information. She calls, and the man she saw on the TV is the one talking to her.
What themes does Pluribus explore regarding happiness and individuality?
He apologizes for Helen's death. Millions of others have died, including the president. He explains that everyone now has the benefits of an extraterrestrial technology. Through pulsing signals that were sent, everyone around the world is now held together by a psychic glue. Here's part of that scene.
Rest assured, Carol, we will figure out what makes you different.
How does Rae Sehorne's character deal with loss in Pluribus?
Figure it out. Why?
So we can fix it. So you can join us.
Carol? You still there?
You said my life was my own.
It is. One hundred percent.
So what happens when I say no?
Carol, once you understand how wonderful this is... Carol?
As time goes by, Carol learns that everyone has access to everyone else's memories and knowledge. Everyone is happy, and there's peace around the world, except for Carol and a few others. She isn't buying that these transformations are a good thing, and she does everything she can to resist. Ray Sehorne, welcome to Fresh Air. I love this series. I loved you on Better Call Saul. It's really such a pleasure to have you on the show. Oh my gosh, thank you. It is such a pleasure to be here. Thank you. The premise of this series is sci-fi, but the show itself is asking so many questions about human nature, like what is happiness? Is it happiness if there's no longer a larger meaning to your life? And is being an individual with your own temperament and thoughts, is that more valuable than this happiness?
And is anger lethal or is it good to let out your anger and resist what you think is wrong? And, you know, maybe we'll find out some answers to those questions and many other questions later. But I just want people to know there's some really interesting thoughts in this. Thank you. And did you find yourself asking what is happiness as you made the series?
Yeah, I definitely was asking myself a lot of those questions throughout this series. And we had amazing conversations among the crew and the cast, you know, some of these late night shoots and even on weekends. Stuff of like, well, would you choose what's best for the individual versus what's best for the community as a whole? I personally think I would absolutely be team Carol as far as... arguing, you know, the necessity and the positives of individual thinking and independent thinking. For one thing, a big thing that came up for me was the fact that this group think, no matter how intelligent and how peaceful, one of the ideas of happiness and joy, which maybe is slightly different, is being surprised by things, whether it's wonder growing up as a kid and hopefully still as an adult, or...
a giant belly laugh. And if you cannot be surprised, there's never going to be any new art. There's never going to be a joke that you haven't heard. There's never going to be surprise behavior that makes you laugh. And that's just such a source of joy for me that I just can't imagine that contentment is the same as happiness.
One of the other characteristics of your character in Pluribus is that she is angry a lot of the time.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:02
2
What is the premise of the Apple TV series Pluribus?
0:02–0:45
3
How did Rae Sehorne become the lead in Pluribus?
0:45–1:17
4
What themes does Pluribus explore regarding happiness and individuality?
1:17–1:43
5
How does Rae Sehorne's character deal with loss in Pluribus?
1:43–14:23
6
What was Rae Sehorne's experience on the set of Better Call Saul?
14:23–15:28
7
How did Rae Sehorne's father's career impact her life?
15:28–17:42
8
What led Rae Sehorne to choose acting over a career in visual arts?
17:42–45:33
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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