Rhea Seehorn was nearly surrounded by hundreds of naked actors while making Apple TV’s Pluribus.
With a near-perfect 98% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, Pluribus reviews have been incredibly positive. The series is set in a world where an alien virus turns nearly all of humanity into a single hive mind, except for those killed during the process, and the 13 people who are immune to the virus. One of the immune individuals is Carol Sturka (Seehorn), a romance novelist who is determined to undo the global transformation and fix the world.
During a panel at SXSW (via Variety), Pluribus creator, showrunner, and writer Vince Gilligan shared that he considered making all members of the hive mind naked at one point, as they do not need to wear clothes. He realized that “we’re not working for HBO,” though, and didn’t want to put all the extras through being naked, a decision that Seehorn is relieved by. Check out their comments below:
Vince Gilligan: We talked about [how] they didn’t need to wear clothes at all, but we’re not working for HBO. But then we thought, we can’t do that to all these extras. We can’t all be naked.
Rhea Seehorn: Oh my God, thank you … Can you imagine … if I had to try to act with 300 naked people?
Based on what Gilligan establishes about the virus in Pluribus and the human hosts it inhabits, clothes are definitely not something the hive mind needs. They are focused on surviving, spreading the virus, and limiting the use of resources and energy if necessary. Ensuring they are wearing clothes and using resources and energy to keep them clean goes against this, as does the fact that they do not have any sense of individuality or shame.
The practicalities of making the show need to be taken into consideration, though. As Gilligan indicates, Apple TV generally does not have the amount of nudity as seen in Game of Thrones and other HBO shows. Having hundreds of extras be naked for hours of filming comes with plenty of issues. Additionally, a cast of almost entirely nude actors likely would’ve heavily distracted from the focus of what the show is actually about and its many dramatic moments brought to life through stellar acting, writing, and cinematography.
Instead, Zosia (Karolina Wydra) and all other members of Pluribus‘ hive mind cast get to keep their clothes on. This arguably helps Carol gradually connect with Zosia and almost see her as human for a period of time. While Carol becomes romantically and sexually attracted to her, reaching this point may have been more difficult if Zosia was naked from the moment they first met and during all of their interactions.
With Pluribus season 2 on the way, the hive mind’s relationship with clothes is something that could potentially be explored further, but that does not require most of the cast getting naked.
- Release Date
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November 6, 2025
- Network
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Apple TV
- Directors
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Adam Bernstein, Zetna Fuentes, Melissa Bernstein
