Star Wars and ‘The Princess Bride’ Nearly Snuck Into Apple TV’s Best Sci-Fi Series [Exclusive]

Pluribus is hands down one of the best shows of 2025 and one of the best sci-fi offerings in Apple TV’s impressive catalog. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan created the series with Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn front and center, playing a woman named Carol who is one of the few people not instantly snapped into a hive mind in the show’s first episode. Carol, who was once a romantasy novelist before the world ended, is confronted with an impossible decision: Cave to the collective or protect her individuality. After things go sideways with the handful of other individuals that haven’t been assimilated, she meets Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga), the only other person left who wants to get humanity back rather than accept their new normal. On the red carpet for Pluribus‘ Paleyfest panel, Collider’s Taylor Gates caught up with Vesga to talk about the series.

By the end of Season 1, Manousos is Carol’s one true ally. He is not a fan of the collective, and whenever the hive mind has tried to get him on their side, he reacts with much more volatility than Carol. Which is part of why Carol and Manousos sometimes do not see eye to eye with each other. One of the most interesting parts of what we see when the show takes us to Manousos’ experience is the way he reacts when the collective sends his mother to stop him from going to find Carol. When she speaks to him, he is far from kind to her, revealing that the hive mind truly does not understand their relationship at all. At Paleyfest, Vesga spoke with Gates about what he knows about Manousos and his relationship with his mother.

When asked if he spoke with Gilligan about that relationship, Vesga said “Not really,” but went on to share a bit more about the dynamic. “Vince didn’t tell me what the problem was about. I remember discussing the word that he would pick to describe his mother. I think it was so clever that the way that he finds out that he can make sure that that isn’t his mom is because she’s so sweet. That is so genius,” Vesga explained. Flipping that maternal expectation on its head, “It’s not that she’s mean. It’s actually that she’s sweet. That’s how he can tell. That’s amazing.”

He went on to say, “I thought that was amazing, but then we were discussing about the word that he should use in Spanish, and I think we managed to find a word that is insulting, but it’s not that, sort of, nasty to her. It is very insulting, the word that I use, and I love how with that simple drop of information, you get this whole universe of a relationship.” Vesga does have hopes for more of Manousos and his mother, sharing praise for Soledad Campos ​​​​​​in the role. “They would say cut, and we would just hug each other. She’s lovely. She’s absolutely lovely.”

Carlos Manuel Vesga Had a Connection to His Most Iconic Line

Image via Apple TV

The first extended time we spend with Manousos in the series comes when he is driving to try to find Carol in New Mexico. On his journey to Albuquerque, he is learning English and is repeating a phrase over and over again: “My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.” But Vesga told Collider that after joking around on the first take, he ended up tripping himself up with the line quite a few times, as he mixed a famous quote from The Princess Bride with a legendary Star Wars one.

“When we shot that scene when he gets to Albuquerque to Carol’s house, that was shot before all the other Darién Gap scenes, and those are the ones where I repeated constantly, right? So when we shot the last one, which we shot first, I made the mistake of saying my name is Manusos Montoya, and I kept going to The Princess Bride because I was joking about it. I was joking all the time. I was like making a mix between Inigo Montoya and Darth Vader. So I would go, ‘My name is Manusos Montoya. I am your father. Prepare to die.'”

You can see Vesga as Manousos on Season 1 of Pluribus. Stay tuned at Collider for more.

Release Date

November 6, 2025

Network

Apple TV

Directors

Adam Bernstein, Zetna Fuentes, Melissa Bernstein

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