Apple's Biggest-Ever Sci-Fi Show Continues To Plummet as Audiences Look Elsewhere

1 week ago 16

Published Jan 24, 2026, 1:00 PM EST

Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.

For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.

He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him.

His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.

Despite ending 2025 as Apple TV's biggest series of the year, Pluribus is rapidy dropping down the streamer's charts as the long wait for a second season continues. During a 2025 year-in-review last week, Apple SVP of Services Eddy Cue revealed that Pluribus had officially become the platform’s biggest series ever. According to Cue, Pluribus drove a 36% surge in engagement in December alone, outperforming everything else on the service — including Brad Pitt’s racing blockbuster F1: The Movie, the family-friendly The Family Plan 2, and even A Charlie Brown Christmas

The series stars the majestic Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, an author of "speculative romantic fiction" (spicy books) living in Albuquerque when humanity suddenly gets all happy happy, joy joy. After a mysterious signal from space triggers an alien psychic phenomenon, nearly everyone on Earth becomes part of a blissful hive mind known as “the Others.” Carol is one of only about 13 people on the planet who are immune from this happening (not the Shyamalan one) — and she thinks this “perfect” world is a living nightmare. Her partner dies during the event. Free will vanishes. Grief is erased. And the hive mind keeps politely insisting she’d be happier if she just gave in and joined them.

How Good Is 'Pluribus'?

Collider's Carly Lane commented in her review of the series that Pluribus was the perfect way for creator Vince Gilligan to make his grand comeback to sci-fi, the genre in which he made his name. The series combines the huge weight of Better Call Saul with the uncanny feelings of awkwardness and mystery of The X-Files. Lane appreciated the way the show didn't over explain things to its audience, its haunting tone, and its darkly funny, deeply human storytelling. With gorgeous direction, superb writing, and magical chemistry between Seehorn and Wydra, Lane called Pluribus one of Apple TV’s most original and rewarding dramas, writing:

"Pluribus succeeds at being a show unlike any other you've watched before, one that's only improved by going in with very little advance knowledge. Alongside Gilligan, writers Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Ariel Levine, Vera Blasi, Jenn Carroll, and Jonny Gomez have crafted something truly special here, made even better with the assurance that a second season has already been guaranteed. The best surprises are the ones that come out of nowhere, and in that vein, Pluribus could very well be one of 2025's greatest — but it's also proof that Gilligan is only getting better at delivering great television."

Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV.