It’s been just over a year since the Emmy-winning series Breaking Bad concluded its five-season run, but fans won’t have to wait much longer for another fix of show creator Vince Gilligan’s celebrated world of crooks, con men, and other questionable characters. After a long honeymoon period with teaser trailers featuring the shyster of all shysters in his element, the much-anticipated spin-off series Better Call Saul premieres this Sunday and Monday in a special two-night event.
In case you haven’t yet gotten acquainted with this new dimension in the Breaking Bad universe, the series will serve as a prequel to the groundbreaking drama that hosted what Sir Anthony Hopkins once called “the best actors I’ve ever seen.” The focus will, of course, be centered around Bob Odenkirk’s smarmy attorney, Saul Goodman, detailing his life before he got so perilously entangled with the engineer of those potent blue crystals.
Along with Odenkirk in the title role, the series also features the return of Jonathan Banks as gruff fixer Mike Ehrmantraut, as well as new characters played by Michael McKean, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, and Michael Mando.
The series is co-created by Gilligan and Peter Gould, who wrote the episode that introduced the character of Saul Goodman to Breaking Bad. Set six years before that episode, the series follows Odenkirk’s character as he hustles his way through the legal system, putting ethics a far second to the almighty dollar.
While the series will initially unfold prior to the events of Breaking Bad, the creators have hinted that the narrative could eventually thread its way through the original series’ continuity and even offer an epilogue of sorts for Odenkirk’s character.
The first episode of Better Call Saul is directed by Mr. Gilligan himself, and the two-night series premiere is coming at you February 8 and 9 at 10pm ET on AMC.
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