Announced officially about a month ago, and now that “Breaking Bad” has run its course, it would appear AMC and Vince Gilligan are gearing up for their first spin-off series, “Better Call Saul.” Set to star Bob Odenkirk as the slimy Saul Goodman, the series will function as a prequel to “Breaking Bad” before the character ever met Bryan Cranston’s Walter White. Creator Vince Gilligan is no stranger to spin-offs, having worked on “The X-Files” spin-off series “The Lone Gunmen,” and he knows it’s not easy territory to work in.
“There’s obviously a danger inherent in doing a spinoff, Gilligan said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. But I just love the character of Saul Goodman [Bob Odenkirk] so much, and part of me doesn’t want to say no to this world,.
Originally conceived as a half-hour sitcom, Gilligan and Goodman creator Peter Gould decided to go back to the one-hour drama format.
We’re both one-hour drama guys,” he said. “So we figured, ‘Why not shoot Saul in the same way?’ Let’s shoot it in Albuquerque, let’s get as much of the crew back together as possible, and let’s do it the way we did it before so that it will be of a piece with that pre-existing fictional universe that we had so much fun creating.”
And what can we expect from the series? The trade says, “While they’re still working through plot, they anticipate the series being set in an office with a much lighter tone than that of its predecessor. If Bad was 75 percent dramatic and 25 percent comedic, Saul will be the opposite. The challenge has been finding the dramatic tension in their lead character.”
With the series being set before the events of “Breaking Bad,” many fans have wondered which actors might show up as their characters before we first saw them, and Gilligan says it’s in the cards. “Personally, I’d have a hard time resisting putting all these guys in for a cameo or two every now and then.”
Plans are still coming together for the series, but AMC has a tentative premiere set for sometime between August and October of 2014. Who do you want to see appear in “Better Call Saul”? Sound off below!
