In 2025, when Jeff Hiller received his first Emmy nomination, he was having a typical day at home in New York City, engaged in a phone conversation with his sister. Little did he know, the moment was about to become far from ordinary. Hiller was unaware of the live nomination announcements, and he also missed his agent’s initial attempt to break the news. As fate would have it, he answered the second call, only to discover that his portrayal of Joel in Somebody Somewhere had earned him a nomination from the prestigious Television Academy.
Fast forward to a year later, Hiller basked in the glow of holding his Emmy gold after an unforgettable acceptance speech. His incredible journey continued with a second nomination. This time around, the spotlight found him in Los Angeles, where he was announcing the Emmy nominees alongside Liza Colon-Zayas from The Bear.
“It was surreal,” Hiller recounted over Zoom to DECIDER. “We didn’t announce our names. We didn’t announce those categories… But afterwards, my manager walked over and congratulated me. I was baffled, thinking, ‘For what?!’ because Somebody Somewhere wasn’t airing this season!” he remarked with a laugh.
Between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, the period of Emmy eligibility, Hiller’s versatility shone brightly across several TV hits. Fans saw him as a quirky German candy button factory owner in Stumble, an experienced restaurant waiter in Ghosts, and even a murderer wielding a curling iron in Elsbeth. Beyond network TV, his presence was notable in two of 2026’s critically acclaimed streaming series: Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay garnered 19 Emmy nods, and Pluribus, 18. Hiller’s endearing performance in Katie Dippold’s horror-comedy won fans’ hearts, sparing his character Dale from an expected demise in Season 1. Meanwhile, his impactful guest role as Lawrence J. Kless, also known as Larry, in Pluribus secured him a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series.
Prior to the release of the gripping post-apocalyptic drama Pluribus, creator Vince Gilligan was tight-lipped about the show’s riveting plot twists to maintain mystery. This meant that Hiller remained in the dark about the full extent of his role until a meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Gilligan and leading actress Rhea Seehorn a day before shooting. Initially, the 50-year-old actor assumed he was cast to play Seehorn’s character Carol’s father, delivering a message about a disapproving mother. To his surprise, his character was actually part of a hive mind revealing to Carol that her late wife Helen (played by Miriam Shor) did not love her books.
“I did believe I was going to play [Carol’s] father,” Hiller said with a chuckle. “But I didn’t think I was going to get the part, because I didn’t think I looked quite old enough. I didn’t think they were doing the math, but then I thought, maybe it’s a flashback! I didn’t know anything about it.”
With filming set to commence on Monday, Seehorn invited Hiller over to her house on Sunday to rehearse with EP Alison Tatlock, who wrote Episode 4, “Please, Carol,” and director Zetna Fuentes. “Because the show was so complicated, we all came together and rehearsed for several hours. And that’s something that you just never get. That was more helpful than anything that I’ve ever had in acting. It was like rehearsing a play,” Hiller recalled. “It felt like I was back in the theater.”
During roughly eight minutes of screen time, Hiller’s character — wearing a colorful cycling suit — welcomes Carol back home with fellow hive mind members, including one played by Albuquerque’s real-life mayor, Tim Keller. In an effort to learn more about the Others, Carol invites Larry inside, where he — or rather, the world’s collective consciousness — conveys adoration and likens her books to Shakespeare’s work.
“There was a little bit of a challenge to it,” Hiller said of learning his character’s true nature so quickly before filming. “But I think something in my wheelhouse I can play pretty well is warmth and love. So it’s good that I didn’t have to constantly play some emotion that’s more difficult for me to access. But it was complicated.”
Unlike typical shared scenes, Hiller and Seehorn didn’t have the luxury of mirroring or naturally reacting to each other’s performances. As Hiller marvelously maintains Larry’s overly chipper demeanor, positive tone, and palpable desire to please, Carol grows increasingly frustrated and skeptical. The fascinating, revealing, at times comedic ping-pong match of mismatched emotions takes a more serious turn when Larry struggles to share Helen’s honest opinions, because he knows they’ll hurt Carol.
“Even though I was playing a part of the hive mind, there was still this idea that there is still some humanity in them. They know that this will hurt her, and they do not want to hurt her,” Hiller shared. “I found that to be a really good anchor of trying to redirect the conversation and not give you too much. It felt a little politician-y, like we’re not gonna go there, we’re gonna go in this direction…”
When DECIDER spoke with Seehorn ahead of Pluribus‘ premiere, she piled on praise for Hiller and his complex performance, explaining, “I just adore him. I was a huge fan of his show [Somebody Somewhere], and of Bridget Everett and everybody on it. And so thrilled that he won that Emmy. That guy is amazing, and he’s also just such a lovely person.”
“We had so much fun working on what really was a one-act play by the time he comes in and sits down with me at that table — just two nerdy theater people that would have rehearsed five more days if they let us,” Seehorn told DECIDER. “Jeff trying to navigate the kind of human he’s supposed to be playing, and then that strange human navigating Carol, was just inherently comedic. He has such a gift for comic timing, but he also has such a gift for finding the pathos. He’s a generous actor, and he really receives what you’re throwing at him and responds in time.”
When reflecting on his rare Pluribus set experience, Hiller also took a moment to shout out Seehorn, who received a 2026 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series.
“She’s a great leader. If in some weird, bizarre universe, I become the lead of a show, I gotta be like her. She knew everybody’s name, and it wasn’t performatively knowing their name; it was genuine interest,” Hiller said. “Sometimes it’s long days, and there are actors who are like, ‘Let’s get this going, come on, let’s go.’ And she was never like that. She was always super present and there to act. I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a scene with someone so present as her. She was Carol. But she wasn’t method. As soon as we were off set, she’d be back to Rhea. But she could lock in in a really beautiful way.”
Though creator Vince Gilligan stressed that he wrote the show’s concept years before ChatGPT was released and didn’t intend for Pluribus — or this specific scene — to be a commentary on artificial intelligence, some viewers still compared Hiller’s performance to AI. While he can see the parallels, Hiller was adamant that the brilliance of Pluribus could only come from a one-of-one human.
“When you look at this story, it is so complicated that it could only come from a human mind that’s messy, and interesting, and interested. There are times when I watch the show where I’m like, ‘She should just join the hive mind, it’s great, what’s the problem?’ And there are other times when I’m like, ‘Run, Carol! They’re eating bones!’ This is what’s so genius about Vince Gilligan. The fact that he could make my loyalty switch that much shows what an incredible storyteller he is, and the fact that he wrote this from his mind, but with our modern eyes we see all these different things to it, shows how incredibly timeless and interesting this story is.”
Fans will have to wait quite a while for Pluribus Season 2, and though Hiller doesn’t know if his character could ever return, if the opportunity presents itself, he’d be back in a heartbeat. “I would love to be with any of the [characters]. Well, Carlos-Manuel Vesga’s character, I don’t want to [share a scene with] him. He’ll probably kill us,” Hiller laughed. “But Samba Schutte’s character, I think that’d be really fun. He’d be with all those pretty ladies, and Larry’s just there like in a bike uniform being like, ‘How about some grapes?’”
When the Emmy-winning actor looks back on his career, he’d tell his younger self, “Don’t compare yourself to other people. Your journey is singular and your journey matters, too.” The self-aware comedian considers his wise words, then adds, “But I’d be like, ‘Uh-huh, but when will I get my sitcom?’ My younger self would have said that!”
Whether Hiller returns to Pluribus or not, he isn’t taking his time on Carol’s cul-de-sac or his second Emmy nomination for granted. “It’s very exciting. It’s so thrilling,” he said. “Honestly, it’s just nice to keep acting. It always feels like you’re this far away from not ever getting another job. So it feels like maybe this will help me get another job!”
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Decider’s interview with Emmy-winner and 2026 nominee Jeff Hiller, all about his role on Widow’s Bay.
Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.