Successful but disillusioned romantasy novelist Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) gives readings attended by gaggles of middle-aged women lusting after her strapping leading man. Her manager, Helen (Miriam Shor), is also her romantic partner, and when they return to Albuquerque following a successful tour, a stop at a bar turns bizarre when everyone around her is shaking as if in a seizure, including Helen.
PLURIBUS
What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2025
Where’s it showing? Apple TV+
After an awful journey back to their home with Helen’s dead body, Carol flips on the TV to hear the person on-screen talking directly to her. All humans who didn’t die in the event joined into a hivemind, except Carol and 11 others. The collective community wants to fix that. What follows is Carol’s resistance to “joining,” her quest to find the other survivors, and her ultimate loneliness that leads her to seek companionship from one of the assimilated, Zoshia (Karolina Wydra), who acts as her chaperone.
While this is Carol’s story, we also follow Manousos Oviedo (Carlos-Manuel Vesga), another survivor from Paraguay who embarks on a perilous journey to find Carol while avoiding those assimilated. Apple TV, well done. I can’t wait to find out what happens next in season 2. (10 42- to 63-min. episodes) ∆
This article appears in Volunteers 2026.