Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for Pluribus Episodes 1 & 2. While Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV sci-fi show Pluribus immediately provides a lot of answers surrounding its main premise, there are still plenty of questions that have yet to be answered. We know there’s a strange alien technology that’s resulted in every human survivor on Earth becoming psychically linked — except for a select few, including romance author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), who’s a little overwhelmed about the whole situation. Fortunately (or not) for Carol, the hivemind decides to send her a hopefully friendly face in the form of Zosia (Karolina Wydra), a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the swoony pirate hero of Carol’s books. While Carol is understandably freaked out by Zosia’s presence, she also starts to lean on the other woman for answers about what’s really going on. Ahead of Pluribus dropping its first two episodes on Apple TV, Collider caught up with Wydra over Zoom to discuss her mysterious character and some of Zosia’s biggest moments in the premiere. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Wydra discusses auditioning in secret, which new skills she had to learn for the role — including flying a C-130 military plane and driving an excavator — what Zosia’s look back at Carol in Episode 2 is supposed to mean, and more. COLLIDER: I feel like there is nothing on TV like Pluribus, but I’ll preface this by telling you what I told Rhea [Seehorn], which was that I tried to go in as blind as possible, because in Vince [Gilligan] we trust. How much did you know ahead of time about this role, and when did you learn the truth about your character? KAROLINA WYDRA: Thank you for saying what you just said, because literally, that’s what was so exciting for me when I read the script — this idea of, I’d never seen this. The world that he created, I had not seen before. Vince Gilligan, his vision is always so incredible, and he’s such a master at storytelling that I was blown away by his creativity. When I auditioned for it, I got sides from Episode 3, and the character’s name was different. I didn’t know anything, absolutely nothing about the show. When I tested for it, I got two scripts, and everything was obviously massive secrecy. At first, you are taken aback by how secretive it is, and you sign all these NDAs, and you can’t talk about it. There is a reason behind it — because it’s true, when you go blindly into something, not having preconceived notions or watching a trailer and knowing too much about it, you get your own ideas or hype yourself up with expectations, and it can kind of tarnish the experience. When you go in blindly, there’s just a blank slate, so you can really go on the journey, and I love that that’s what Vince did with the show. People get a true experience of going on this journey, not knowing anything and being surprised, being blown away, and laughing a lot. There was a lot of laughter in the audience when they were watching it at Comic-Con. That was really awesome. People really enjoyed the dark humor that it has.
Karolina Wydra Learned How To Fly a Military Plane and Drive an Excavator for ‘Pluribus’

“It’s just a feeling that you’ve done this millions of times, so it lives in you.”

Rhea Seehorn and Karolina Wydra in Pluribus Episode 2Image via Apple TV

You have such a memorable entrance to the show, but how many new skills did you have to learn? Zosia has to know how to do everything. She’s part of this hivemind, where everybody has each other’s memories and skills and talents. I’m thinking, in particular, of that scene where you have to drive an excavator. WYDRA: It was so much fun. By the way, I love excavators. I have two little boys, and they’re obsessed with all that stuff, so I feel like such a cool mom. They’re like, “Hey, you have to learn how to drive an excavator.” I was like, “Are you kidding me?” The videos I would take for them were awesome. Again, thank you for that question. Thank you for noticing all those things. I did a lot of rehearsals for everything because of that. These people have muscle memory of being the best of the best at it, so when you get on an excavator, when you get on the moped, or whatever it is, you don’t look for things like the button. You just go in and you do it effortlessly without looking. It’s just a feeling that you’ve done this millions of times, so it lives in you. So, we did a lot of rehearsals. I would speak to someone who knows very well how to operate, for instance, an excavator and how they would behave, and watch them when they got on and how they would behave, how they would buckle themselves in. When I get on the C-130, you see me get in, sit down, put on the safety belt, do the buttons, and all that stuff, starting the plane, and it was just effortless. It was just like a dance. We rehearsed it and talked about it, so that when we were shooting, it was just effortless. I love saying this — I got to taxi the C-130, for real. That’s amazing! WYDRA: It was me actually doing it. The pilots, at first, were not sure. They were a little nervous for me to do it because Vince asked them, and they said, “Well, I don’t know. For insurance purposes, I’m not sure we can do it.” And after a day of rehearsal, they explained to me how the airplane worked, the buttons, the engines, everything. They had enough trust in me that they said, “Alright, do it.” It’s just really incredible. I’ll never get to do that again, you know? That airplane is quite astonishing. It’s just so massive, and it’s been around for a long time — 50 years old, if not more. Beyond the individual rehearsal, I spoke with Vince about the technical complications of filming those sequences with the hivemind, where everybody has to be in sync. What was that experience like, having to be one with so many other actors? WYDRA: When anger comes at us, the world reacts to Carol’s rage. Nito [Larioza] is our choreographer, and he would teach me how it would live in my body, the level of the shaking, and what it would do to you. It would be like short-circuiting, and how violent it was, in my hands and feet and whole body. What would it feel like when you woke up from it, when you came back? He was really great at guiding us. We did a lot of rehearsals for that. We would film and rehearse it. On the day, depending on which angle we’re shooting from, we would focus on those body parts to give the right feeling for it. As far as being in the collective consciousness, we would tackle scene by scene. The throughline was that they’re always happy, content, and unflappable. I’m very protective of Zosia because I had to be, because there’s a lot of, “Do they have agency? Do they not have agency?” There are just so many conversations. She does things where you can criticize them or have opinions about them, and I had to be very protective in believing that, which they do. They have a biological imperative to share this gift — and once somebody experiences it, they will know how good it is, and they know that they will be grateful for having this experience. So, I really had to focus on protecting her from people, like on set, because we’d have so many conversations dissecting this new world versus individuality, and, “If you don’t have this, then you lose this or that.” It was an incredible conversation about humanity, and it would open up all these different things for us. I was very protective of having that belief that what she’s experiencing is so good and so real and really worth experiencing, even in the challenging scenes where I couldn’t mirror Rhea as Carol, when she was having really tough moments where I couldn’t go on that emotional journey with her — because as Karolina, I’m so empathetic. I feel so much love for people, and so not going on that journey was challenging at times, just holding that space. There’s a purpose because they also genuinely are good, and they want nothing but to make Carol happy.
Karolina Wydra Explains the Meaning of ‘Pluribus’ Episode 2’s Final Scene

“She loves them both equally…”

Samba Schutte and Karolina Wydra in Pluribus Episode 2Image via Apple TV

There’s a scene at the end of Episode 2 where you think Zosia is going to go with Samba [Schutte]’s character, and she pauses and looks back, and then Carol decides to stop their plane from taking off. We’ve been talking about free will and agency, and that’s a major question that hangs over the show’s whole premise. What do you think that moment, in particular, represents for Zosia’s feelings about Carol, or is it supposed to be a bit of a mystery? WYDRA: I think it’s meant to be a mystery. Zosia loves Diabaté as much as she loves Carol. She loves them both equally, but I think that moment is also thinking about Carol and what she might be experiencing. Again, for them, there’s a biological imperative, but a part of me feels like maybe there’s a longing to be with Carol because Zosia was there as her chaperone, and not letting go of that. Then, at the same time, Zosia loves Diabaté, and she wants to be there for him. It’s a little conflicting. Behind all of it, there’s that thing of, “I have to make him happy. I have to make her happy. I can’t divide myself.” There’s a longing, and it’s complex. It’s not one or the other, which I love so much.