Burn It (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series centered on three male friends—Carl, Andy, and Jon—who identify as Generation X-ers living without real responsibilities, a lifestyle that becomes questionable as they near thirty. Carl's girlfriend pressures him for commitment, Jon is haunted by a daughter he gave up for adoption at 17, and Andy discovers he may become a father. These events force each to confront their past and grow beyond their Gen X labels. The show also featured female characters Emma, Claire, and Tina, whose relationships with the men drive much of the drama.

Reader's Guide

Burn It was notable for its soundtrack of North West England bands such as New Order, The Stone Roses, and The Charlatans, and for its unflinching portrayal of topics like suicide, unwanted pregnancies, and apathy. The show received two Royal Television Society North West Award nominations in 2003: Best Cable Programme and Best Performance In A Network Drama for Chris Coghill. A DVD release was deemed impossible by the production company due to difficulties clearing music copyrights. The series ran for two seasons, with the first consisting of ten episodes and the second of eleven, airing in 2003.

Did You Know?

• A DVD release is not possible due to difficulty clearing copyrights for the music used.
• The series was nominated for two Royal Television Society North West Awards in 2003.
• The soundtrack featured bands including New Order, The Stone Roses, and The Charlatans.

Premise & World-Building

The series centers on Carol Sturka, an American romance novelist based in Albuquerque, who discovers she is one of only 13 people on Earth immune to the "Joining" — an extraterrestrial virus that has converted the rest of humanity into a peaceful, contented hive mind known as the Others. What distinguishes this post-apocalyptic world from typical dystopias is the Others' demeanor: they are not overtly threatening. They happily accommodate the wishes of those still unaffected and even express genuine goodwill toward them. Yet they candidly admit that once they learn how to assimilate the remaining immune individuals, they will do so without hesitation. Carol, whom Gilligan crafted as a "flawed good guy," resists this inevitable absorption while searching for a way to reverse the transformation. The scattered immune individuals she encounters span the globe — a Colombian in Paraguay who refuses all contact, a Mauritanian embracing hedonism, a hostile Indian woman, and a Peruvian villager amenable to joining — collectively painting a mosaic of humanity's final holdouts.

Genesis & Development

Gilligan conceived the premise of Pluribus after a decade of crafting antagonists for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul left him "weary of writing bad guys." The initial seed was deceptively simple: a man whom everyone in the world suddenly adores following some cataclysmic event. He expanded the concept, flipping the lead to a woman written specifically with Rhea Seehorn in mind, and developed the hive-mind mechanism. To keep the science fiction grounded, he imagined the transformation arriving as a signal from space containing RNA code that would rewrite humanity. After Better Call Saul concluded in August 2022, Gilligan pitched the new series, triggering what became the first bidding war over one of his projects. Apple TV won the rights in September 2022, committing to two seasons. Seehorn agreed to star before even reading the initial drafts. The title was selected from a list of more than 100 candidates as a nod to E pluribus unum, the unofficial American motto. Gilligan envisioned roughly four seasons' worth of material and acknowledged he would not have the energy to pursue beyond that given the production demands.

Production & Craft

Principal photography took place in Albuquerque from February through September 2024, shot under the working title Wycaro 339, with each episode carrying a reported budget of $15 million. The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike interrupted first-season writing, forcing Gilligan and the writers' room to regroup in October 2023 to complete the final two episodes and pushing the start of filming into early 2024. The strike also disrupted pre-existing scheduling arrangements, requiring executive producer and screenwriter Gordon Smith to step in and direct at least one episode. Unlike Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, Pluribus benefited from significantly longer-range planning. The writers knew the atom bomb delivered to Carol in Season 1's finale would pay off across a planned four-season arc — a deliberate contrast to the Breaking Bad finale's machine gun, which Gilligan did not resolve until a late breakthrough at the writers' table. The original Season 1 ending did not include the bomb; notes from Apple and Sony executives prompted the change, which Gilligan described as producing a "better ending." He added, however, that he would be willing to abandon these plans should a stronger idea emerge.

Critical Reception & Accolades

Pluribus premiered on Apple TV on November 7, 2025, to widespread critical acclaim. Reviewers praised Gilligan's writing and direction, Seehorn's commanding lead performance, and the show's originality, tonal distinctiveness, and stylistic influences, though its pacing drew some criticism. At the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series collected 18 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, along with acting nominations for Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Jeff Hiller, and Miriam Shor. Seehorn won Best Actress in a Drama Series at both the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards, where the show earned two nominations at each ceremony. The series was also honored with a Peabody Award and named one of the 10 best television programs of 2025 by the American Film Institute. A second season has been ordered, underscoring the show's momentum and the network's confidence in its long-term potential.