The Order (TV series)

Lore & Background

The Order follows college student Jack Morton as he joins the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, a secret society that teaches and practices magic. As Jack goes deeper into the organization's history, he uncovers dark family secrets and an underground battle between werewolves and the magical dark arts. The series stars Jake Manley as Jack Morton, Sarah Grey as Alyssa Drake, Matt Frewer as Pete 'Pops' Morton, Sam Trammell as Eric Clarke, Katharine Isabelle as Vera Stone, and Max Martini as Edward Coventry.

Reader's Guide

The Order was created by Dennis Heaton and written by Heaton, Shelley Eriksen, Rachel Langer, Jennica Harper, Penny Gummerson, and Jason Filiatrault. It was produced by Nomadic Pictures Entertainment. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the fictional Belgrave University portrayed by buildings of the University of British Columbia Vancouver Campus. The series received a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for both seasons, though based on a small number of reviews. Its cancellation after two seasons left the story unresolved, but it remains notable for its blend of horror, magic, and werewolf mythology within a college setting.

Did You Know?

• The series was created by Dennis Heaton and ran for two seasons on Netflix.
• The first season premiered on March 7, 2019, and the second on June 18, 2020.
• Filming for the first season began on April 18, 2018, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• The aerial shots of Belgrave University are of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Creative Genesis & Vision

After a decade crafting morally compromised antagonists across Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan found himself exhausted by the exercise of writing bad guys. The breakthrough came during the production of Better Call Saul, when he sketched out a premise centered on a man whom the entire world suddenly adored following some global catastrophe. He then reimagined the concept from the ground up: the protagonist became a woman, the world-altering force became a hive mind, and the mechanism was grounded in a signal transmitted from space carrying RNA code that would rewrite human biology. Gilligan deliberately wrote the lead as a "flawed good guy" attempting to save the world, and he built the role specifically with Rhea Seehorn in mind. When he told her he was developing something written for her, she committed before even reading a draft. After Better Call Saul wrapped in August 2022, Gilligan pitched the project through Sony Pictures Television, sparking the first bidding war over one of his properties. Apple TV emerged victorious in September 2022, securing the rights and attaching a two-season order, with Gilligan serving as showrunner and executive producer.

The World & Its Inhabitants

Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pluribus imagines a world in which an extraterrestrial virus has converted nearly all of humanity into a serene, cooperative collective known as the Others. Only thirteen individuals remain immune to what the series calls the Joining. At the center is Carol Sturka, a successful but restless American author of romantasy novels, who fiercely resists the Others' patient efforts to bring her into the fold. The hive mind, while genuinely peaceful and accommodating of immune people's wishes, is candid that it will eventually find a way to assimilate them.

The supporting cast paints a mosaic of how different immune individuals respond to this new reality. Zosia, a Polish Other, serves as Carol's chaperone. Across the globe, a Colombian man named Manousos Oviedo has retreated to Paraguay and refuses all interaction with the Others, while a Mauritanian woman, Koumba Diabaté, embraces a hedonistic existence in the post-outbreak world. An Indian immune individual named Laxmi is openly hostile toward Carol, and a Peruvian villager, Kusimayu, is amenable to joining the collective. Carol's manager and wife, Helen L. Umstead, anchors her personal life. The series title nods to the American motto e pluribus unum—out of many, one.

Production & Craft

The first season was shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under the working title Wycaro 339, with principal photography running from February through September 2024. Each episode carried a reported budget of roughly fifteen million dollars. The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike interrupted the writing process, forcing the room to regroup in October 2023 to finish the final two episodes and delaying the start of filming into early 2024. The strike's scheduling fallout also required executive producer Gordon Smith to direct at least one episode in place of the planned director.

Unlike Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Pluribus benefited from a longer planning horizon. Gilligan and his team mapped the story well in advance, avoiding late-stage plot problems that plagued earlier shows—such as the machine gun in Breaking Bad's "Live Free or Die," which Gilligan did not know how to resolve until a breakthrough at the writers' table. In Pluribus, the season-one finale delivers an atom bomb to Carol, a plot element the writers already knew would pay off across the planned four-season arc. The original ending did not feature the bomb, but notes from Apple and Sony executives prompted a change Gilligan says produced a stronger conclusion.

Critical Acclaim & Industry Recognition

Pluribus premiered on Apple TV on November 7, 2025, and was met with widespread critical praise. Reviewers singled out Gilligan's writing and direction, Seehorn's performance, and the series' originality, tone, and stylistic influences, though some critics found the pacing uneven. A second season was promptly ordered.

The awards recognition has been substantial. At the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series collected eighteen nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, along with acting nominations for Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Jeff Hiller, and Miriam Shor. It was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards, with Seehorn taking home Best Actress in a Drama Series at both ceremonies. Beyond those major ceremonies, the series was honored with a Peabody Award and named one of the ten best television programs of 2025 by the American Film Institute—a significant marker of its cultural impact as a post-apocalyptic science fiction drama.

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