Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman seemed like the strangest possible Breaking Bad character to be given a spin-off prequel series. Watching how a low-life attorney got his start didn’t sound nearly as exciting as reentering the world of drug cartels and crystal meth makers. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Better Call Saul is one of the best dramas on television. But unfortunately not for much longer. Ahead of the show’s season five premiere, AMC announced it has picked up the show for a sixth and final season.
AMC
AMC revealed Better Call Saul will conclude with a sixth season (which we first heard at Deadline) during this year’s winter TCA event. The series, which finally returns with its fifth season on February 23 after an extended hiatus, will begin production on the final season later this year. It will premiere some time in 2021.
This upcoming fifth season will be the standard ten-episodes long. However, the final installment will run for 13 episodes. (We’d prefer if it were 30, but we’ll happily take the extra three.) That should help them “stick the landing,” according to Peter Gould, the series showrunner and executive producer. “From day one of Better Call Saul my dream was to tell the complete story of our complicated and compromised hero, Jimmy McGill—now AMC and Sony are making that dream come true,” said Gould.
Fans of Breaking Bad have something to look forward to before that, though. Gould revealed Dean Norris will be returning to play DEA agent Hank Schrader in season five. Hope nothing bad ever happens to him!
AMC
Two characters from the original series who will not be seen though are Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. However, Gould did not rule out the possibility Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul could appear in season six. “I would love to work with Aaron and Bryan,” he said.
The show has never been closer to meeting them. Season four ended with Jimmy McGill announcing he would no longer be practicing law under his own name. When season five premieres he will be working as Saul Goodman, which brings him one step closer to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman hiring him. But that might not be where the series ends. Each season begins by showing Jimmy McGill living his post-Breaking Bad life as a Cinnabon manager. And we might get to explore both eras of Saul Goodman’s life in the final season.
Gould and Gilligan were asked about where Better Call Saul will end. Will it be where Breaking Bad stars? Or will it show us what happens to Jimmy years later while he is in hiding. “Maybe it’s all of the above,” said Gilligan.
That’s what we expect to happen. But no matter how it ends, Gilligan says Better Call Saul‘s sixth season will finally be the end of this world. Although, as he admitted, he said the same thing with Breaking Bad and then he did El Camino. So maybe someday he’ll have another idea for spin-off. Which character would it follow? It probably wouldn’t matter. Plenty of fans were once dubious about Saul Goodman getting his own spin-off, and now we’re sad it’s almost over.
Better Call Saul season five premieres Sunday, February 23 at 10:00 p.m.. Episode two debuts during the show’s normal time slot on Monday, February 24 at 9:00 p.m.
Featured Image: AMC