Apple TV's new X-Files replacement series debuted with near-perfect reviews. The streamer's latest drama, Pluribus, has been garnering considerable attention for its otherworldly, almost Twilight Zone-esque story, immediately drawing comparisons from fans to the acclaimed X-Files franchise. Despite premiering over 20 years ago, The X-Files remains the pinnacle of sci-fi storytelling on the small screen, making it all the more significant that Pluribus seems to (at least early on) be resonating similarly.
Vince Gilligan's Pluribus debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with near-perfect reviews from critics and fans after just its first two episodes. The Apple TV series boasts a glowing 100% Critics' Score and an 83% Audience Score, making it the best-rated TV show of the year on the review aggregation platform.
Reviews have sung the show's praises from the outset, calling out its "outstanding" premise, "incredible confidence," and "ever-changing meld of dread and humor, sci-fi and offbeat travelogue."
Things are not perfect, though. The series has drawn criticism from some viewers for its "Severance-type weirdness," "unrealistic" premise, and "[taking] itself way too seriously."
Pluribus marks a return to Gilligan's sci-fi TV roots, having gotten his start writing for X-Files in the mid-to-late '90s. The renowned TV creator is probably best known for his more grounded work on the small screen, including the Emmy-winning mega-hits Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (which Pluribus shares some key connections to).
Gilligan's new X-Files-like TV drama follows Rhea Seehorn's Carol, a curmudgeonly fantasy author, as she navigates a world where she is one of the few humans immune to a virus that eradicates all feelings of negativity from the body. Pluribus continues on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Thursday through December 26.
Why Pluribus Is the Perfect X-Files Replacement?
Since X-Files came to an end (for the first time) in 2002, fans of the hit sci-fi series have been trying to fill a void left in their hearts. Sure, X-Files itself came back in the mid-2010s, but that revival was critically chided, failing to reach the heights of the show's original run.
Luckily, Pluribus is finally here, capturing some of the magic of what made X-Files great.
The most apparent similarity that the two shows share is a grounded sci-fi premise set within the real world. One of the reasons that X-Files was as beloved as it was had to do with the fact that it followed very real-feeling characters, thrust into extraordinary, otherworldly circumstances.
While the show's supernatural investigations into aliens, ghosts, and the occult kept audiences coming back each and every week, the chemistry between Special Agents Mulder and Scully is what grounded X-Files.
Similarly, Pluribus takes a fantastical concept and grounds it around very real feelings of humanity, belonging, and the acceptance of one's vast spectrum of emotions. It is this human anchor that makes Pluribus shine and elevates it from simply being another series with a mind-bending high sci-fi conceit.
All this is paired with the kind of stellar writing, directing, and acting fans came to expect from The X-Files. In fact, there is some connective tissue between the two series on that front specifically.
Pluribus creator Vince Gilligan worked on The X-Files TV series, writing 20 episodes for the show, and serving as an executive and supervising producer for several more. He, among several others, became a guiding voice for the hit supernatural procedural.
So, it would make sense that Gilligan brings those sensibilities to his new Apple TV series, going back to the sci-fi well after decades away from the genre.
And with rumors of an X-Files reboot on the way from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, perhaps, there is a reality where future Pluribus seasons and new episodes of The X-Files can run in parallel with one another, giving fans even more of the prestige science fiction television they have been craving for decades.
