After months of waiting for it, AMC is finally getting its act together to air Better Call Saul. While the show won’t pop up on the cable station until 2015, AMC released a behind-the-scenes look at the series on Sunday. Additionally, we’ve finally been given a concrete premiere date. Better Call Saul will hit the schedule on February 15, 2015.
AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff was talked about for months before we ever began seeing footage. First, there was that epic billboard advertising the titular lawyer’s services. Then, there was a short teaser giving us our first look at Bob Odenkirk in the role. At the time of the show’s start, he’ll actually be going by the name of Jimmy McGill, and it will give us the opportunity to see Saul and his antics in the time before he meets Walter White. It’s the Jimmy McGill persona that the new trailer focuses on. In fact, we get to hear from Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the creative masterminds behind the series, on how they envision Saul in the years before Breaking Bad.
The other excellent portion of the video is similar to the earlier teaser in that Goodman/McGill is sitting down with some unknowns at a diner, selling them on his vision of himself as a lawyer. Like the last teaser, he’s running his mouth about being a lawyer, this time mentioning he’s not looking to represent guilty clients. We also get to see a brief scene of Odenkirk’s character leaning his head against a wall in either defeat or exhaustion, it’s hard to tell.
Clearly, I think we’d all love to see more footage from the new series, but since the premiere isn’t going to hit the network for another six months, it’s probably smart of AMC to keep some of the big details under wraps. We do know that the series regulars include Jonathan Banks, Michael McKean, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian and Michael Mando and that 10-episodes will be produced for the first season. Additionally, the network is clearly expecting Better Call Saul to be a ratings winner, and has already signed on for a second season of the drama.
Despite my enjoyment of the Saul Goodman character, I’m not certain if Better Call Saul will be able to attract the same sort of ratings Breaking Bad was able to bring in, especially during the final season. It’s taken quite some time to bring the series to air, and the fandom related to the show has died down quite a bit. Still, if any series on AMC has a chance at a built-in audience, it’s Better Call Saul. We’ll keep you updated as the network continues to keep us engaged with new teasers and content in lieu of an actual premiere.
