Pluribus Season 1 Finale Has A Hidden Breaking Bad Reference That Viewers Easily Missed

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As a huge fan of Pluribus, I was thrilled to learn the creators hid a little nod to Breaking Bad in the season one finale! It’s so cool knowing Vince Gilligan, the mastermind behind both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is also the creator of this new sci-fi series. It just adds another layer of appreciation for the show!

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vince Gilligan and the writers of the finale—Alison Tatlock and Gordon Smith—were asked about a book on crystallography seen in a character’s kitchen. Fans wondered if it was a nod to Breaking Bad, as Walter White was a skilled crystallographer and his work contributed to a Nobel Prize-winning discovery.

So, I was reading up on that little book appearance in the Pluribus finale, and apparently, Gilligan, Tatlock, and Smith are just as surprised as we are! They swear they didn’t deliberately plant it as an Easter egg – it just seemed to fit the character of Manousos at the time. But, they do concede that maybe someone on the art department or another crew member slipped it in intentionally – it’s a fun mystery! You can find their thoughts on it below.

Gilligan: Damn, man. You’re good.

I might be wrong, but there’s a tendency to find patterns if you’re actively looking for them – that’s how constellations were discovered. However, I don’t think that happened here. No one pointed out any deliberate arrangement while we were selecting the books; we simply chose ones that seemed relevant to Manousos’ interests. Though, it’s possible someone on the props or set design team had that idea.

Gilligan: They play a deep game.

Smith: They do.

The people who actually build things here – our department heads and crew – have really considered this, and they believe it’s achievable.

Tatlock: It may have been somebody else’s genius.

This is just one of many links between Gilligan’s past and present shows. The cast of Pluribus includes two actors from Better Call Saul: Rhea Seehorn stars as the main character, Carol Sturka, and Patrick Fabian provides the voice for the lengthy phone message Carol receives from the Others.

In the Breaking Bad prequel, Seehorn portrayed Kim Wexler and Fabian played Howard Hamlin. Interestingly, Carol Burnett, known for her role as Marion in season 6 of Better Call Saul, also participated in a Pluribus social media video as part of a collective group, despite not appearing on screen in the show itself.

Like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the series Pluribus is filmed in and largely takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, because the story involves a worldwide virus and a connected consciousness, Pluribus ventures beyond Albuquerque more often than those earlier shows.

Similar to the hidden details in the crystallography book, there’s a connection in the phone message left by the Others. It starts with the phrase “Hello, Carol,” which is the exact same line Walt says to his neighbor in the show Breaking Bad.

Now that Pluribus has been renewed for a second season, expect more significant connections and hidden details to emerge as the story unfolds. There’s also a chance we’ll see other actors from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul appear, potentially even as characters who have been absorbed into the hive mind.

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2025-12-25 19:29