By TeeJay Small | Published
It is impossible to deny the impact that streaming services have had on television and film. Aside from offering these creations for our viewing pleasure, streaming has changed the way production takes place. These days, you’re more likely to get eight episodes of a primetime television series once every three years, rather than a 22+ episode season every fall. While these long stretches can support bigger budgets, bigger name stars, and more deliberate writing, they make it difficult to keep up with stories and develop memorable characters.
We’ve seen this trend have a negative impact on products like this Stranger Thingswhich saw its core of lovable children blossom into full-fledged adults over the course of five seasons. Now, according to a recent document from Polygon, it looks like Apple TV’s biggest new series is set to meet the same fate. The show in question, Pluribuslikely won’t return for a second season until late 2027, at the earliest.
Let’s not be small
For those who don’t know, Pluribus the latest project from Breaking Bad again Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan. The original Apple TV concluded its nine-episode first season in December 2025, ending on a high cliffhanger. The series was originally greenlit in September 2022 for a two-season order, leading many fans to speculate that the second season would follow a tighter production schedule.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as Vince Gilligan has confirmed that the team is back Pluribus just started mapping out the next set of episodes. While discussing his process with Polygon, Gilligan said “We’re breaking down the season. It’s not going as fast as I would have hoped, but we’re hoping for a lot more fun and twists. And I think we’ve got some amazing things coming in season 2.”
Later in that same interview, Gilligan acknowledged the long production schedule, joking “we’re looking forward to people seeing it in eight or nine years when we finish Season 2.” Fortunately, Pluribus it doesn’t cover young children, so a ticking clock might not be the perfect show killer. Still, it’s disappointing to indulge in nine hours of fantastic storytelling, only to find out you’ll have to wait two years or more for the ending.
Fine Art Takes Time
Marvel managed to breathe Infinity War again The end of the game in about a year. Parks and Recreation produced 125 episodes reliably in six years. Now, fans are forced to wait half way through the president’s term to catch eight new episodes of a show that doesn’t even need a special effects budget. With great respect to the team behind Pluribusthis reduces the property. Once the episodes come, every moment that doesn’t move quickly with the plot feels like a waste of time.
To give an example of how this trend is killing TV shows, let’s take a look Pluribus‘the first season. Episode 7 “The Gap” is one of the best looking adventures ever put on the small screen. In the episode, the fan-favorite character takes a perilous journey through the unknown, as the camera slows down and highlights some amazing scenery. The kind of thing you’d see in an environmental documentary, or feature film about the dangers of global warming and the beauty of an unexplored planet.
I would like to be able to fully enjoy scenes like this. Unfortunately, I was well aware of the fact that there were only two more episodes after the tour, and that I would have to wait a very long time for the real ending. As a result, the travel montage made me cringe and left me wondering how the season would wrap up in a satisfying way. In the old days, I could enjoy multiple filler episodes, bottle episodes, and one-off adventures that contributed little or nothing to the overall appeal, because I could always be sure there would be enough to keep me hooked for weeks.
Trading Slop For Art
Vince Gilligan himself is no stranger to these tight production times. Breaking Bad managed to reliably deliver 13 hour-long episodes each year, culminating in 62 episodes over five seasons. Better Call Saul he had a similar experience, despite the worldwide pandemic and taking a break from production after lead actor Bob Odenkirk suffered a near-fatal heart attack. I understand that it is a sci-fi epic like Pluribus may contain a lot of moving parts, but the team behind the show certainly knows how to deliver a collection of episodes in the least chaotic of circumstances.
The good news is, Pluribus very good, very good. I’ll still think about the show and be open to rewatching it when new episodes air. The point is, this trend of taking years to deliver short seasons is killing TV, because other shows don’t offer the same value. If you’re not Vince Gilligan, you probably shouldn’t be comfortable joking about this kind of thing, because it might leave your show dead in the water.
