Pluribus Season 2 Makes One Of Its Best Characters A Series Regular

Published Nov 14, 2026, 9:08 AM EST Tomas Franzese is the Weekend News Editor at Polygon, following and reporting on the latest goings-on in the gaming and entertainment spaces. During the week, you can find him working on Remastered, his newsletter about video game history and retro gaming, or contributing to GameSpot and other publications. Previously, Tomas was the Gaming Segment Lead at XDA and a Staff Writer at Digital Trends. Expect to see a lot more of Koumba Diabaté in Pluribus Season 2 Image: Apple TV Sign in to your Polygon.com account As the second season of Apple TV's Pluribus enters production, more details are emerging. On Nov. 13, we learned that a standout cast member from the show's first season will be promoted to a series regular. Samba Schutte is now a Pluribus series regular Deadline reports that Samba Schutte, the actor who portrays Koumba Diabaté, will be a series regular in Pluribus Season 2. In the first season, Schutte only had a guest-starring role in its second and sixth episodes, but left a strong impression with his few appearances. He even received a Saturn Award nomination for it. At the start of Pluribus, Koumba Diabaté is one of the thirteen people immune to the Happiness virus and don't become part of the Joined. He lives in Las Vegas, flies around the world in Air Force One, and has no problem letting the Joined serve him, but he's pretty clear in Episode 6 that he doesn't plan on becoming part of the Joined. That puts his character in a very interesting spot going into Pluribus Season 2. Will he become a willing or reluctant participant in Carol and Manousos' plans to fight back against the Joined, or will we slowly see his downfall and ultimate assimilation into the Joined? There are no plot details for the second season yet, so we don't know. Speaking to Polygon last year, Schutte offered insight into the mental state of his character: "I think there's a part of him that's a humanitarian, or he feels he’s the representative of humanity in a way, and not only because he’s flying Air Force One," he explained. "I think he understands both sides of the coin — the point of view of the Others, and why they eat humans, and Carol’s point of view. So he plays the middleman. But I think he loves his new life way too much to sacrifice it." While it's in production, Pluribus Season 2 will film for over 200 days, meaning it's still a ways off. When it eventually airs, it will be on Apple TV.