As the world waits for Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad sequel film to release (or sign Aaron Paul), it appears fans may also be waiting for something they didn't necessarily expect to be delayed. Better Call Saul will not be around in 2019. Instead, AMC president of the entertainment networks group Sarah Barnett revealed when Season 5 will be coming by reiterating a bit of previously revealed info that some may have missed.
We said on our most recent earnings call that the series would come back for Season 5 next year.
As far as why Better Call Saul is being held until 2020, Sarah Barnett confirmed that "talent needs" played into the decision. Barnett told Vulture the network tends not to override those types of requests if the result of doing so would be a "worse show," so it appears this is a better option than seeing new episodes in 2019.
Sarah Barnett didn't get more specific behind what "talent needs" resulted in the delay, which could be anything from actor availability to Vince Gilligan wishing to focus more on the upcoming Breaking Bad movie. It could even be a situation where the movie ties to Better Call Saul in some way, and Gilligan and writers wanted the movie to be plotted out and finished before continuing any more work on Season 5.
The latter of the three is possible given Better Call Saul's timeline with "Gene," although unlikely given the distinctive arc of the series. As Sarah Barnett mentioned, the writers can only cover so much ground in the main story, and each season brings the show closer to Breaking Bad.
Well, we know clearly the end was already written before the beginning began. [Laughs.] The writers, they have a very particular, very clear sense of the arc of their show.
Sarah Barnett wouldn't reveal just how much time Better Call Saul has left, but given Jimmy's increasingly skeevy behavior towards the end of Season 4, it's clear his moral scale has tipped more towards the Saul Goodman way of life. While the writing team may know where it's headed, getting there and making sure it makes sense and is entertaining may require a little more time and effort than a general audience would understand.
Which is why any disgruntled fans should cut AMC and the Better Call Saul team some slack. There's plenty of great television shows on in 2019 worth checking out, so why not let one slide on through to 2020 in case that year is a little light on television hits? With that said, if Better Call Saul Season 5 gets delayed beyond that, expect a lot of fans to look like Gus Fring when a plan goes awry.
Fans can still get a Better Call Saul fix in the meantime, albeit mainly through watching the show's stars in other projects. Rhea Seehorn is appearing on the final season of Veep and an upcoming episode of The Twilight Zone, Bob Odenkirk is set to appear in the movie Long Shot, and Giancarlo Esposito will be showing up in an episode of Star Wars' The Mandalorian sometime in the future.
Nacho actor Michael Nando is also working within the Disney family, as he'll have a part to play in the movie Spider-Man: Far From Home later this year. The link continues with Jonathan Banks, who will continue to voice episodes of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure in 2019. Who knew there was such crossover between the Breaking Bad actors and studios under the Disney umbrella?
As previously mentioned, AMC said Better Call Saul won't be back until 2020. Stick with CinemaBlend in the meantime for updates regarding the show, and other great AMC programming. As an example, check out one of the minorly upsetting things about The Walking Dead's much-buzzed fair episode.
