With interest in Pluribus on the rise, actress Rhea Seehorn has opened up about her character, Carol Sturka, and the perception that Sturka is unlikable. Speaking to the lead actor of Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, during Variety’s Actor on Actor interview, Seehorn defended Sturka by noting that one does not consider the desperate circumstances that make her behave the way she does. These include the sufferings of Sturka herself, her failure in her career, and her loneliness.

This debate around Carol Sturka became a prominent part of the conversation surrounding Pluribus. 

Rhea Seehorn compares criticism of Carol Sturka to the reception of Walter White

Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn has sparked controversy after defending her Pluribus character, Carol Sturka, from claims that she is unlikable. Seehorn argued in a conversation with Bryan Cranston that audiences view flawed female characters differently than male anti-heroes. She also pointed to Sturka’s tragic circumstances, saying her actions are reflective of the reality of all that she has lost. 

“Nobody asked that about Walter White,” she told Cranston. “Nobody asked that about Jimmy McGill: ‘What’s up with them being so unlikable?’ They were behaving in an honest way to the situation they were in.” 

“I don’t know. When people are like, ‘She’s so unlikable,’ I’m like, her wife’s dead; they killed her. Career’s done, might not ever be back. You may very well die alone and never speak to anybody again on a couch, eating a frozen meal, watching ‘Golden Girls,” she continued. “There are no friends anymore, there’s no family, and the world is saying, ‘We’re just waiting around until we can take your brain away.’ And she’s not polite about it.” 

For the unversed, Cranston became known for playing his iconic character Walter White in Breaking Bad, which won him an Emmy Award. Meanwhile, Seehorn shot to fame for her role as Kim Wexler in the spinoff series Better Call Saul. Even though she did not appear in Breaking Bad, Seehorn has since become a central character in the franchise’s success story.

With Seehorn now taking on a very different role in Pluribus, attention has increasingly shifted to Carol Sturka and the intense reactions the character has generated. 

Exploring Carol Sturka’s character: The grief and complexity behind Pluribus’ most divisive character

One of the most controversial TV main characters of 2026, Carol Sturka, seemingly violates a lot of expectations people usually have from a lead protagonist. She is angry, cynical, impatient, and openly resistant to the peaceful world around her. She is called “unlikable” by many viewers because she does not temper her emotions, she has outbursts often, and she will not be a traditional savior figure.

However, lots of the criticism apparently misses the context of her story. This backlash also sparked a broader online discussion about gender and audience expectations. Many critics and fans pointed out that TV audiences have historically embraced difficult male protagonists like Walter White and Jimmy McGill but have been less kind to similarly flawed female leads. 

Viewers may see Sturka as too bitter, or as a realistic outcome of so much grief and isolation, but the character has become one of the main talking points of Pluribus, which might be back for season 2. That debate only intensified with Seehorn’s recent interview with Cranston, when she questioned why flawed female characters are often judged more harshly than male antiheroes. Now, as the conversation around her intensifies, Carol becomes one of television’s most divisive and fascinating protagonists.

Will Carol Sturka’s controversial journey ultimately change how audiences view flawed female protagonists on television? Let us know in the comments.