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Growing up in Poland in the 2000s, I spent much of my childhood immersed in film and television. I was fascinated by stories and the way they shape how we see the world, even if most of my peers didn’t quite understand why I could spend hours talking about the latest episode of a television show I was currently watching. My siblings, thankfully, were just as enthusiastic as I was.
As I learned more English through school and series such as Beverly Hills 91210, Friends, and Charmed, television became more than entertainment. It became a window into another culture and, eventually, one of the reasons I pursued a career writing about film and television, thanks to which I met my now-wife, and relocated to Los Angeles.
That’s why seeing Polish actors succeed internationally has always carried a particular significance for me. It’s challenging to explain it to someone who has never experienced it. There’s a unique sense of pride in watching a person from your country build a career on the other side of the world. You don’t know them personally, yet their success feels meaningful because it expands what seems possible.
One of the first times I’ve experienced that feeling was while watching House. As a teenager passionate about the series, I was delighted to see Polish actress Karolina Wydra appear during its seventh and eighth seasons. Years later, I encountered her work again on True Blood, and once again found myself eager to point out to my wife that not only was she Polish, but that she came from the same town as one of my closest college friends.
That feeling returned when I watched Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus. When the first promotional materials for the series appeared, I was already intrigued. What I didn’t expect was discovering that Wydra’s character would be named Zosia—which is coincidentally my name. For many viewers, that detail may seem insignificant. For me, it was anything but.
Before moving to the United States, I often debated whether I should introduce myself as Sophia or Sophie because “Zosia” could be difficult for English speakers to pronounce. Professionally, I frequently used “Zofia,” the formal version of my name. These are small considerations, but they are familiar to many immigrants who regularly navigate questions of language, identity, and belonging.
That’s why seeing a character named Zosia on a major global television series felt unexpectedly meaningful. It was a reminder that representation isn’t always about grand gestures. Sometimes it’s as simple as hearing your own name spoken naturally on screen. That personal connection may be what initially drew me toward Wydra’s performance in Pluribus, but it’s not why the performance stands out. What makes her work remarkable is the challenge at the center of the role itself.
In Pluribus, Wydra portrays Zosia, a representative of an alien hive-mind consciousness that has absorbed nearly all of humanity. Sent to help Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), one of the few immune people, process the loss of her wife Helen (Mirian Shor), Zosia functions simultaneously as caretaker, guide, observer, and advocate for the collective consciousness seeking to persuade Carol to join it. It’s a role that could easily become one-dimensional. Instead, Wydra makes Zosia feel both deeply familiar and impossible to fully understand.
Seeing Wydra as Zosia, one cannot stop but wonder: how it’s like to portray a character who’s not only supposed to be an entire humanity, but remains content at all times, beyond patient, and joyful? I don’t know about you but I’m more like Carol and more often than not, the word “patience” doesn’t exist in my dictionary (don’t ask my wife how she’s doing with this).
Wydra herself has admitted in numerous interviews that she practiced meditation and dreamwork while preparing for the role of Zosia. And it’s precisely this inner and outer tranquility that is so crucial when it comes to her character. From episode to episode, we get to know Zosia better, not only as the hive mind member, but also as a glimpse of the real Zosia, about whom we learn a little through her conversations with Carol.
Zosia’s characterization throughout season one portrays her primarily as someone who is excellent at explaining everything, while simultaneously avoiding topics that could be helpful to Carol and Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga) in turning the tide and saving humanity. The character’s ambiguity gives Wydra room to showcase a wide emotional range while maintaining the mystery at the center of Zosia’s motivations.
The ambiguity about the character is what draws us in; the way Zosia is neither bad nor good. We cannot put her in a category that suits it, because we still don’t know the extent of the hive’s motives. That ambiguity becomes one of the performance’s greatest strengths. Wydra never allows Zosia to settle into a familiar archetype. The tension between those possibilities gives many of the season’s most important scenes their dramatic weight.
There are plenty of sequences that showcase Wydra’s abilities, whether it’s the grenade scene in which Zosia protects Carol or when Zosia channels Helen through her endless teasing in episode eight. But one of the most impressive is Wydra taxing the C130 plane by herself, or operating excavator in a scene where Zosia helps Carol dig up Helen’s grave which is symbolic and touching in and of itself.
That brings us to one of the most culminate scenes of season one where Carol confronts Zosia about her eggs that she froze with Helen that the hive now can utilize to change Carol. The scene highlights Wydra’s ability to shift Zosia’s emotional register almost instantly, turning a domestic interaction into a confrontation without losing the character’s underlying ambiguity. The tone changes almost instantly, from flirty to upsetting. The sequence stands among the strongest performances of the season, with both actors balancing intimacy and conflict.
Through Pluribus, Wydra proves herself to be a proficient actor, even after the longer hiatus during which she had her kids, was dropped by an agent, and didn’t even know if she’d be able to return. To be able to portray, successfully, a character that’s meant to be nearly an entire world is no small feat, but she accomplishes the difficult task of making Zosia simultaneously comforting, unsettling, and impossible to categorize.
Due to her nuanced performance, she is now being considered in the Supporting Actress Emmy category, having already won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television and earned nominations from the Gotham TV Awards and Critics Choice Awards alongside Seehorn and the series itself.
Season two of Pluribus should offer even more opportunities to explore the mysteries surrounding both Zosia and the hive mind. Given the strength of season one’s writing and the commitment of its cast, it’s no surprise that Wydra and Pluribus as a whole are receiving awards consideration this year.
You can watch Pluribus on Apple TV and read Nerdspin’s season 1 review here: https://nerdspin.com/pluribus-s1-review-best-show-of-2025-apple-tv/
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Pluribus
The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.
Release Date: November 6, 2025
Director: Vince Gilligan
Cast: Rhea Seehorn , Karolina Wydra , Carlos-Manuel Vesga
