Rhea Seehorn Wins First Emmy For ‘Pluribus’, Thanks Vince Gilligan For “Role of Lifetime” & Creating “Safe Sets To Take Risks”

Turns out you don’t need to smile or make nice onscreen to be a winner offscreen. On Monday night at the 78th Primetime Emmy awards, Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn was all smiles and optimism as she came to the stage to collect her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

During a teary-eyed speech Seehorn joked: “This is me on a beta blocker.” The nine-episode drama sci-fi series, created by Vince Gilligan, follows Carol (Seehorn), a pessimistic woman who must try to save the world from an infectious virus when a mysterious alien collective possesses human bodies and their consciousness on a global scale.

Attributing her first Emmy win to Gilligan, Seehorn said: “Thank you Vince Gilligan for giving me not only the role of a lifetime, but for creating sets where we all get to collaborate and we are actually made to feel safe to take risks so that we get better as artists.”

Pluribus which came into the ceremony with 18 Emmy nominations and in addition to Seehorn’s win, the series won four between Emmys Night 1 and 2 for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour).

Seehorn also took time to acknowledge her cast, crew, family and her fellow nominees, namely, Kerri Russell, who sent a gift basket to her that included a quote from the late Gloria Steinem that said, “We are linked not ranked.” The actor added, “I feel that way about all you women [nominated with me]. So, thank you for that.”

In June, Gilligan told Deadline that Season 2 of Pluribus was being diligently worked on. “We’re about a little past the halfway point. My writers and I have figured out the episodes and it always—every season on every show—starts out hard. And then you just stay with it long enough. I’m starting to get to point where I’m thinking, I’m looking forward to shooting this, and people seeing it, because I’m kind of digging it.”