Why is Carol Sturka’s name important in Pluribus? Chilling Twilight Zone connection explained

Pluribus has a very specific connection to classic sci-fi show The Twilight Zone, and that link could hint at where the series is heading.

Pluribus creator Vince Gilligan has been clear about the origin of his protagonist’s name – Carol Sturka.

That forename is “a loving nod, hug, and homage” to Carol Burnett, a TV legend whom the showrunner worked with on Better Call Saul.

While Gilligan has acknolwedged that “Sturka comes from Fritz Weaver’s character name, William Sturka, in an episode of The Twilight Zone.” Which is where things get really interesting…

What is Twilight Zone episode ‘Third From the Sun’ about?

The Twilight Zone episode ‘Third From the Sun’ first aired on January 8, 1960, was the 14th episode of Season 1, and dealt with the threat of nuclear war.

The story revolves around William Sturka, who works in ‘Hydrogen Armament,’ and is concerned that his efforts are about to be used to destroy much of mankind.

A nuclear war is set to kick off in the next 48 hours, which Sturka describes as “the end of everything we know – people, places, ideas, everything – it will all be wiped out.”

There are those who don’t appreciate his “dangerous thinking,” but Sturka ignores them and takes matters into his own hands, organising a spaceship to fly his wife and daughter away before the military goes “full blast.”

His colleague has found a planet that’s populated, and through radio waves, they’ve heard snatches of a language similar to theirs. So following a couple of tense false starts, the Sturkas board what looks like a flying saucer, and head for “the third planet from the sun… called earth.”

Pluribus might be a Twilight Zone sequel

That switcheroo means we’ve been watching aliens on a distant planet the entire time, which is a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan, something Vince Gilligan claims won’t be happening in Pluribus.

But what if the name isn’t just homage, and the Apple show is a direct sequel to this Twilight Zone episode? As the credits role, Rod Serling says “for William Sturka and his family, it’s the eve of the beginning.”

We don’t know when the Sturkas made that journey, or how long it took, but Carol could be a descendant of William and his family. And if that’s true, it reshapes everything that’s playing out in Pluribus, as if the virus is alien, and Carol is alien, her immunity might be built in.

This theory doesn’t explain the 12 others who are also unaffected, unless they are somehow distantly related to Carol, which seems unlikely. But if Carol is a Struka, there’s nothing stopping them being descendants from other aliens who made it to earth.

Could nuclear war be the key?

We also know the signal that triggered the hive mind has been travelling for 600 light years. If the Sturkas arrived here before that, perhaps the signal has always been destined for Carol, with the aliens sending it once they realised her ancestors had left.

That doesn’t explain the why, but a key detail which connects the Twilight Zone episode and Pluribus is nuclear war. The Sturkas were trying to escape from it in ‘Third From the Sun,’ while Carol joked about it in Episode 4 of the Apple series. Indeed, the hive mind even considered her request for an atomic bomb.

Perhaps the aliens have experienced first-hand the futility of atomic warfare, are now looking to take preventative steps throughout the galaxy, and through the Sturkas have found their way to earth, a planet that’s permanently on the edge of atomic abyss.

So what better way to prevent that than through a mind virus which spreads peace? It certainly serves the purpose, though ironically, that mind glue also causes something William Sturka was concerned about in the first place – namely “people,” and “ideas” being wiped out, and the “end of everything we know.”

Fore more Pluribus theories, here’s a sinister hive mind detail, plus how the virus might directly connect to Carol, while we’ve also got Vince Gilligan on what sets the show apart from The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.