Hoping that the Breaking Bad Saul Goodman spinoff series would go forward? It's all good, man, because it's happening. And as you might have hoped, the working title for this series is Better Call Saul, titled after the attorney's marketing slogan. The project is being set up as an hour-long prequel that will focus on the evolution of Bob Odenkirk's shady attorney character Saul Goodman.
We've known for a couple of months that there was a chance of a Breaking Bad spinoff series, which would focus on Saul Goodman, Walter White's resourceful attorney, played by Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk. Today, THR got the scoop, stating that after weeks of negotiations, AMC secured a licensing agreement with Sony for the Breaking Bad follow-up. Writer/producer and Saul Goodman creator Peter Gould is set to run the series. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan will remain involved.
Among the things in question about the potential spinoff was whether it would be a comedy or a drama, and whether it would be a sequel or a prequel. Given that Breaking Bad hasn't ended yet, and given the violent nature of the series, we don't even know if Saul will survive Breaking Bad to live on for a sequel, but THR confirms that it's a prequel. Considering the nature of the work Saul does, and the fact that he was corrupt even before Walt met him, it's not difficult to imagine that Goodman has a lot more history, which hasn't necessarily been relevant to Walter White's story but could certainly make for an interesting and entertaining TV series.
THR states that the project is slated to be an hour-long series, but they outright call it a drama, nor any other specific genre. Breaking Bad most certainly falls under the "drama" category, but Better Call Saul could go drama or comedy, or fall somewhere in between, Given Odenkirk's background in comedy and the occasionally humorous tint of his Breaking Bad character, the writers could choose to lighten the tone just a bit for this, or aim for dark comedy. But on the other hand, THR says Sony/AMC's statement says the project will focus on "the evolution of the popular Saul Goodman character." Breaking Bad has been an evolutionary story, as we've seen Walt go from meek and well-meaning chemistry teacher to a villainous meth-maker and empire-builder. And he's done some really bad things along the way to get from A to B. Something tells me, Saul has crossed plenty of his own lines in his career, so as easy as it is to picture the show going comedy or dark-comedy, it's just as easy to see this spinoff being another Breaking Bad-type series, largely depending on what kind of man Saul was before he evolved into an attorney that would aid Walter White in many of his shady criminal dealings.
Now that we know the show is going forward, I'd like to wish-list a number of Breaking Bad players to be involved, either in major roles or supporting characters, including Bill Burr and Lavell Crawford, who play Saul's guys Kuby and Huell in Breaking Bad, and of course Jonathan Banks, who played Mike in the series. This would be a chance to bring him back. And maybe even Giancarlo Esposito, who could at least recur as Gus, if not play a bigger role in the series.
While we wait for more details on Better Call Saul, including when AMC plans to get it on the air, we still have three more episodes of Breaking Bad to sweat out. Watch the preview for next Sunday night's "Ozymandias" here and read our breakdown of last Sunday's "To'hajiilee" here.
