“Even though I know what happens [in the end], I don’t think it’s hit me,” Bob Odenkirk said about Better Call Saul coming to an end where he plays the lawyer Saul Goodman / Jimmy McGill. “I think I’ll have to watch it with everyone else, and that’s when it will hit me.”
“It’s the Rubik’s cube from hell,” said Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould about making sure fans are pleased with the final season of the Breaking Bad spinoff. “It’s incredibly challenging and intimidating, but starting the show was the same thing.”
The highly anticipated sixth and final season of AMC’s Better Call Saul will premiere with two back-to-back-episodes on Monday, April 18 at 9:00pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.
Heralded by both critics and audience world-wide, Saul’s 13-episode final season will roll out in two parts with the first seven episodes beginning April 18 and culminating with the series’ final six episodes beginning July 11.
Three new original short-form series connected to the world of Better Call Saul will also debut this spring, including the animated series Slippin’ Jimmy; Cooper’s Bar, starring Saul’s Rhea Seehorn; and new episodes of the Emmy-Award winning Better Call Saul Employee Training Video series.
Slippin’ Jimmy, a six-part animated series from the world of Better Call Saul, follows the misadventures of a young Jimmy McGill and his childhood friends in Chicago, Illinois. Told in the style of classic 70s-era cartoons, each episode is an ode to a specific movie genre — from spaghetti westerns and Buster Keaton to The Exorcist.
Premiering on AMC’s digital platforms this spring, the series is produced by Rick and Morty animators Starburns and written by Better Call Saul writers Ariel Levine and Kathleen Williams-Foshee. Voice talent includes Chi McBride, Laraine Newman and Sean Giambrone, among others.
Cooper’s Bar, led by Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn, is a six-episode digital series that follows the antics of character actor Cooper, played by Lou Mustillo (Mike & Molly) and the unique group of LA natives who frequent his neighborhood bar. Seehorn, who serves as an executive producer and directs on the series, stars as an awful Hollywood executive — “the biggest dick in Hollywood” — who’s a regular at Cooper’s makeshift watering hole. Casey Washington, David Conolly and Kila Kitu also star in the series, which was created by Conolly, Hannah Davis-Law, Nick Morton, Mustillo and Seehorn. Evan Shapiro and Alfredo de Villa are executive producers. The series debuts o AMC’s digital platforms this spring.
The complicated journey and transformation of its hero, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman will continue to follow Jimmy, Saul and Gene, as well as Jimmy’s complex relationship with Kim (Rhea Seehorn), who is in the midst of her own existential crisis. Meanwhile, Mike (Jonathan Banks), Gus (Giancarlo Esposito), Nacho (Michael Mando) and Lalo (Tony Dalton) are locked into a game of cat and mouse with mortal stakes.
“In my eyes, this is our most ambitious, surprising and, yes, heartbreaking season. Even under incredibly challenging circumstances, the whole Saul team — writers, cast, producers, directors and crew — have outdone themselves. I couldn’t be more excited to share what we’ve accomplished together,” said Showrunner and Executive Producer Peter Gould.
The final run of Better Call Saul episodes was always going to include Byran Cranston and Aaron Paul resuming their Gilligan’s sunbaked crime, drugs, death, and deception odyssey. The only real question is how they will fit into the narrative, but fans are just as happy simply seeing them on television again.
With mixed emotions and a touch of bittersweetness, Odenkirk is sad to say goodbye to the character for good, but at least a few old pals will be there to watch him go.
“Why would you ever try to follow one of the most celebrated and beloved shows in television history with a sequel’ and they answered it on every possible level, with truly extraordinary results,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “Saul Goodman has been a central character on AMC for more than a decade, and he really livens up the place. Profound appreciation and respect for Vince, Peter, Bob, Rhea, Jonathan, Giancarlo, Patrick, Michael and everyone else responsible for this remarkable series, which has earned its place alongside Breaking Bad in the hearts and minds of millions of fans and in the pantheon of great television. As we approach these final episodes, it truly is S’all good, man.”
Jeff Frost, President, Sony Pictures Television Studios, added: “While we are very sad to say goodbye to this complicated and fascinating character, we can’t wait for Saul’s full story to be revealed to audiences. Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad are woven into the DNA of Sony Pictures Television and we are in complete awe of what Peter and Vince have created. They have truly transformed television. And this season of Saul, bolstered by the incomparable performances of Bob, Rhea, Jonathan, Giancarlo and the rest of this brilliant cast, takes that legacy to even loftier heights. We are so honored and grateful to have been on this journey with the entire Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul teams, as well as our partners at AMC in bringing this captivating world to life.”
Better Call Saul creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould did not entirely close the door on future spinoffs, though they both expressed a desire to work on other material first.
However, it appears the cast sees something different. Giancarlo Esposito, who played Gustavo Fring on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, said he wants to continue playing the character, possibly on his own show.
“I do think there’s more life in Gus,” Esposito said. “Maybe not this year, maybe not next year. But there’s something that we all are intrigued by and we want to find out about. Even me.”
A new project could explore the softer side of the unassuming-but-ruthless drug mogul. “In Breaking Bad, I wanted Gus to have a family… I wanted people to know that Gus has a family,” he said. “That’s in my mind — you never saw that; you don’t know that. But he really was a wonderful family man… hiding in plain sight.”
“I’d love to see [Gus] being gentle with his children, raising children, having a wife, all those things. I think there’s room for all that if we were ever to come back to a world in which we were to discover where he came from.”
Season 6 of Better Call Saul premieres Monday, April 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.
