Mr. Diabaté is moving into the main cast. Apple TV's Pluribus has promoted Samba Schutte to series regular for its second season, which is now in production, TheWrap reported Friday.
Schutte broke out as Mr. Diabaté in Season 1, a guest-star turn that earned him a Saturn Award nomination. Like Rhea Seehorn's Carol, the character is immune to the outbreak and lives a hedonistic lifestyle, Variety reported. He appeared in two episodes of the first season.
A bigger seat at Vince Gilligan's table
Created by Vince Gilligan, Pluribus follows a deeply unhappy woman who must save the world from an alien hive mind that wants to recruit her. Schutte joins Seehorn, Karolina Wydra and Colombian actor Carlos-Manuel Vesga in the main cast.
The promotion follows a big year for the series. Pluribus won six Emmys, including Outstanding Lead Actress for Seehorn and Outstanding Writing. It also took a Peabody Award and the Breakthrough Drama Series prize at the 2026 Gotham Television Awards.
Apple TV has not set a premiere date for Season 2.
Schutte was born in Mauritania and grew up partly in Ethiopia before building a comedy career in the Netherlands. He played Roach in HBO's Our Flag Means Death and Hakim in NBC's Sunnyside, the first Ethiopian character in an American sitcom. He has three comedy specials, has toured Europe, Asia and Africa, and was a writer and correspondent on the Dutch version of The Daily Show.
Sony Pictures Television produces the series for Apple TV.
For more on the year in TV, see Cup of Soul's look at the Black and Latinx Emmy nominees of 2026 and Anthony Mackie's new Apple TV series 12 12 12.
