Adam Patla
As a self-described sci-fi fan, getting to be a part of a show like Pluribus was a win in and of itself for Miriam Shor.
“It’s beyond up my alley,” she gushes. “It felt tailor-made for me.”
The cherry on top of this dream scenario was receiving her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. The well-deserved and overdue recognition comes for her work as Helen, the manager and wife to main character Carol (Rhea Seehorn), whose death during the Joining serves as an emotional catalyst for the rest of the series. The entire situation, however, was not immediately clear in the early stages.
“I did not know what the show was about because I just got the sides and they were like Schmarol and Schmelen,” Shor explains. “We didn’t know what it was about. But a testament to the writing…while I didn’t know what the plot was, I knew exactly what the scene was about.”
The character was so well-written, though, Shor was compelled despite being in the dark about the overall plot of the show.
“Look, if someone’s like, ‘Hey you gotta come work with Vince Gilligan and be in love with Rhea Seehorn.’ First of all I’m already in love with Rhea. We did that, nailed it,” she jokes. Then, she adds, “I think at this point you know the writing from his work. You just know it’s going to be so interesting, so character driven and you know anybody who’s in any of those shows he’s worked on, no matter how ‘small’ the part, it’s interesting. You have something interesting to do. There’s just no way I’d turn that down. It’s a little daunting though, to be like, ‘Okay so you’re gonna play the character that…um…well you’re gonna die, spoiler alert. And then everyone has to care a lot that you die or it doesn’t work. Go!'”
Daunting as the task was, Shor easily rises to the occasion. Despite the fact that we don’t get to spend a lot of time with Helen, her absence is immediately felt and she lingers across the remainder of the season. The brilliance of Shor’s work is her ability to create a character that is lived in, dynamic, and lovable within a short amount of screen time. We as the audience understand their little idiosyncrasies as a couple, their triggers, their shorthand.
Surprisingly, the key to leaving that impact wasn’t thinking about the impact itself. Shor says, “Really it just became about Rhea and I creating a believable love story and team that would break your heart when it ended. That was what our work was and she’s the best partner in the world to create anything with.”
“I just focused on Carol, which is what Helen does,” she continues. “I feel like Helen found her person in the world and gave everything she had to give to that person and it was reciprocated in a very unique and special way. So, I just focused on Rhea, on Carol, instead of thinking about Helen and what she [goes through] and the ways in which I could be the yin to her yang or I could hold her up or prop her up in the world like you do for your person. And that was easy, as long as I was focused on that.”
The result is a beautiful and rich relationship between the two that reverberates well beyond its conclusion. It is because of Shor’s impact that Carol’s grief, anger, and loneliness all feel palpable. A lot of the emotional success of the series traces back to Shor’s incredible work. Helen is a catalyst for a lot of Carol’s arc but that’s not all she is. Shor ensures that Helen is a person brimming with agency and humanity that can be felt.
“I felt so honored but I also felt a great deal of responsibility to really bring the humanity of this person and the beauty and complexity of this relationship out real quickly,” says Shor about the experience.
Be sure to watch Miriam Shor on Pluribus. Season 1 of Pluribus is available to stream on AppleTV. Check out our full interview with Miriam below!
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