Initially, when AMC (AMC) announced that it was developing a prequel spinoff to Breaking Bad centered around Bob Odenkirk" class="company-link">Bob Odenkirk’s sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman, many were disappointed. Not only did this move appear to be a desperate attempt to piggyback of the success of Breaking Bad for lack of any original ideas, but Saul was really nothing more than comic relief. How could he support his own show? But what Better Call Saul has done in its three seasons is nothing short of miraculous as it has expertly set itself apart from its predecessor while paying proper homage to the pantheon show.
However, as more and more familiar faces start popping up in Saul, the lines between the two shows continue to blur. How does Odenkirk, who scored his second consecutive Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, feel about that?
“It’s nothing bust exciting to me to be getting closer to the Breaking Bad time frame,” Odenkirk told TheWrap. “I’m a fan, like everybody else. When I read these scripts and see Saul coming back, Gus [Fring] coming back, it just makes me so happy. I guess there’s the fear that the power of the ‘Breaking Bad’ universe and the intensity of people’s love for it could overshadow our story. But I love the ‘Breaking Bad’ universe, I have no problem with being art of it, and that’s a risk we should take.”
One of the key ways Saul has set itself apart from Breaking Bad lies with its lead, Jimmy McGill aka Saul Goodman. Throughout the first two seasons of the show, fans were treated to a good man who was just trying to make it in a world where good men don’t last. His trademark wit and slippery tongue that Bad fans knew all too well were still intact, but this was not a man who did business with murderers. However, in season three, the character began to let his inner Saul Goodman begin to show.
“As he goes into the persona of Saul, we know there’s a real human being behind it, and a person who is striking back at the world he thinks he’s been wronged by,” Odenkirk said (via TheWrap). “We’ll see Saul Goodman in a different light, because we know there’s a part of him that has a conscience, and he’s going to feel bad.”
When will Jimmy complete his transformation into Saul? That remains to be seen.
Better Call Saul will return to AMC in 2018.
