“Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan took a bold step into the sci-fi genre with his new series “Pluribus,” but he took that step with many old friends at his side. Rhea Seehorn, who plays romance author Carol Sturka, is just one of more than 150 cast and behind-the-scenes talents from “Better Call Saul” who have joined Gilligan in his latest adventure.
In the final episode of “Pluribus”, titled “Got Milk”, Carol wakes up to find herself alone, seemingly abandoned by the viral spirit of the “Others” into which almost every other human on Earth has merged. To reassure her, the Others put together a recorded phone message telling Carol that their feelings haven’t changed, but they just need some space. Devoted Gilligan fans quickly recognized the smooth vocals on the recording as belonging to none other than Patrick Fabian, who starred alongside Seehorn in “Better Call Saul” as suave corporate lawyer Howard G. Hamlin.
This cameo wasn’t just a surprise for fans, it was a surprise for Seehorn herself. The “Pluribus” team deliberately kept Fabian’s appearance a secret so they could film his reaction live when they heard his voice on the phone.
“They were hoping to get some sort of blooper reel from me,” Seehorn told TV Guide, explaining that she managed not to break character because she didn’t want to ruin such a long take. “They called Cut, and I started laughing and ran out and said, ‘It’s Patrick! You have Patrick!’ And they said they’ve been sitting on this for a long time, just to screw me over.”
The Pluribus crew couldn’t wait to see Rhea Seehorn’s reaction
“Got Milk” cuts between two different shots as Carol begins to listen to the recording, and it’s hard to tell whether either is from that first take where Seehorn was surprised by Patrick Fabian’s cameo. As Seehorn explained to TV Guide, she did her best to keep a solid poker face:
“I don’t know what grip they actually use, but I think if you had one of those psychologists or psychiatrists who study micromuscular changes in the face, I’m pretty sure you could see me saying, ‘What? Patrick?’ But then I tried to cover and act out the scene.”
On the official “Pluribus” podcast, episode writer Ariel Levine admitted, “We really expected it to break. We were all there waiting, laughing in the corner like, ‘It’s happening, it’s happening.'”
The prank may not have had the big blooper they were hoping for, but the episode’s executive producer and director, Gordon Smith, reflected:
“It worked as much as it could with someone as good as Rhea, which is she heard it, she did her job, she stayed in her company, we called Cut, and she said, ‘Was that Patrick?!’ She broke down as we cut and said, ‘Excuse me, no one said it was going to be Patrick.'”
Rhea Seehorn Thinks Patrick Fabian’s Pluribus Cameo Makes Perfect Sense
Vince Gilligan has already thrown cold water on the possibility of a true crossover between the “Breaking Bad” and “Pluribus” universes, but that leaves plenty of room for fun Easter eggs like this. When Carol took an intercontinental flight in the show’s second episode, she did so on a Wayfarer plane, the same airline whose plane suffered a devastating crash in Season 2 of “Breaking Bad.” And in the first episode of “Pluribus,” she was seen drinking expensive Macallan scotch — Howard Hamlin’s favorite to celebrate his legal victories in “Better Call Saul.”
Although Howard was a longtime rival of protagonist Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) on the show, their feud was largely one-sided on Saul’s part and many fans developed a fondness for Fabian’s smart-aleck, smooth-talking lawyer. As Seehorn explained to TV Guide, the actor was pretty much the perfect choice to record this very sensitive “we need space” message:
“Let’s be real, even if this wasn’t a ‘Better Call Saul’ Easter egg, Patrick Fabian has one of the greatest voices of all time and I imagine the rest would have voted as one of the most calming voices to be featured in the outgoing message…so I understand the decision.”
New episodes of “Pluribus” release Fridays on Apple TV.
