Rhea Seehorn breaks down why ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ is so important to ‘Pluribus’

Every sci-fi fan stood up and pointed at the screen, Leonardo DiCaprio style, when a certain book appeared in the Pluribus Season 1 finale.

This book is none other than the classic novel by Ursula K. Le Guin The Left Hand of Darknesswhich is Carol Sturka’s (Rhea Seehorn) poolside reading during her globe-trotting adventures with Zosia (Karolina Wydra).

Published in 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness features the icy alien planet of Gethen, whose inhabitants are ambisexual. Each month they undergo a period called kemmer, during which they develop sexual characteristics. The unique gender and sexuality of the Gethenians created a world very different from ours, affecting everything from warfare (there is none) to child-rearing (everyone participates). The novel won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, second only to Frank Herbert’s. Dune.

Given The Left Hand of Darkness‘ pedigree in genre fiction, it makes sense that Carol, herself a fantasy writer, would read it. (Though I’m sure Carol would be the first to say her Winds of Wycaro books don’t even come close to Le Guin.) According to Seehorn, choosing The Left Hand of Darkness because the finale is the result of joint discussions with the writers of the finale, Alison Tatlock and Gordon Smith.

“We talked about who Carol might read in general, especially for leisure. Not that Le Guin’s books are easy, passive reading, but they definitely seem like books and a voice and a literary level that Carol would admire,” Seehorn told Mashable in a video interview.

Other options for Carol’s pool reading included this one by Aldous Huxley Brave New World for a more dystopian bent. “In the end, we really liked that she was reading a female author,” Seehorn said.

The resonance of The Left Hand of Darkness goes beyond Carol just liking Le Guin, though.

“[The Left Hand of Darkness] is a mirror and presents parallels to what the audience is watching happening in this world,” Seehorn explained.

In the novel, there is only one human on Gethen: Genly Ai. He is an envoy of the intergalactic coalition of planets known as Ekumen, and he hopes Gethen will join him. As his time on Gethen progresses, he gains a deeper knowledge of the planet’s culture, which Le Guin renders in anthropological detail.

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An isolated human in a sea of ​​aliens? Who in Pluribus could you understand that? Of course, Carol isn’t the only human on Earth who is immune to the alien hive mind, but given the show’s intense focus on her and her loneliness, she occupies a similar space as the lonely Genly. The two act as audience surrogates as they struggle to understand such a foreign culture, although they have help from a dedicated member of said culture (Zosia in Carol’s case; Gethenian Prime Minister Estraven in Genly’s). The difference is that while Genly is an intruder in a world that is not his own, Carol must reckon with an alien force that has invaded her own world and is actively rewriting Earth’s social structures.

There is, however, an even greater divide between Genly and Carol. While Carol wants to end membership, Genly is all about membership – getting Gethen to join the Ekumen, of course. It’s not quite the same as forcibly inducing the world’s population into a hive mind, but there is a similar feeling of trying to bring someone into a larger collective who might not want to be a part of it. With that in mind, which side does Carol gravitate to more while reading The left hand of darkness? Genly, the only human? Or the Gethenians who might be apprehensive about joining a larger alien group?

But more importantly, when is Carol Sturka’s book club?

Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.