“Carol Sturka is a hero,” he declared. “She’s imperfect. She can be a bit of a noodge or a curmudgeon or what have you, but we root for her. She wants to do the right thing, and she wants to save the world. That’s refreshing.”
Another key difference between Carol and Walter has nothing to do with the way Gilligan writes them and everything to do with the way the audience receives them. He knows that viewers found Walter’s bad behavior intruiging, something they did not extend to his wife Skylar, played by Anna Gunn. “All the women reading this are going to say ‘duh,’ but even in this enlightened day and age in the year 2025, there’s a double standard,” he explained. “A male lead can be an asshole, and people are like, ‘Yeah, he’s powerful. He’s cool.’ …But, somehow, if a woman does that, it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s difficult. I don’t know if she’s likable.’”
But Gilligan’s not worried about whether or not people like Carol, because he likes her and he likes the actor playing her. He enthused, “I just love Rhea, and I wrote this thing for her. I knew that someone else with half a brain was going to snatch her up at the end of Better Call Saul, and I selfishly wanted to work with her again.”
With the release of Pluribus still a few days away, it’s too early to tell if Carol Sturka can take Walter White’s place in Gilligan’s obituary. But one thing is clear: Gilligan is having fun writing a hero, and that’s worth makes his life satisfying. His legacy will have to wait.
Pluribus streams on Apple TV on November 7, 2025.
