Better Call Saul: Vince Gilligan offers new details on plot, characters

There isn’t a whole heck of a lot going on TV-wise right now (unless you’re a big fan of Under the Dome) so that leaves us with nothing to do but anticipate the great shows that are coming in the future.

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I think it’s safe to say that no future series is more highly anticipated than AMC’s Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad starring Bob Odenkirk as shady lawyer Saul Goodman.

Series creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould were kind enough to offer up some tantalizing nuggets on the new show during an appearance at the Television Critic’s Association press tour Friday. Entertainment Weekly gathered all the info together in handy list form and here are the highlights.

Saul starts out the series as a small-time lawyer named Jimmy McGill. With a handle like that, you can understand why he ultimately changes it to Saul Goodman. “Gimme Jimmy” just doesn’t work.

The series is set six years before the events in Breaking Bad but the time line will be non-linear, leaving the door open for flash-forwards to Saul’s activities with Walter White, Jesse Pinkman etc.,

The show will have a completely different style from Breaking Bad. Gilligan and Gould are talking about Bernardo Bertolucci and Stanley Kubrick as influences.

Here’s what Gilligan said about Walter White possibly making an appearance:

"If it makes sense we’ll do it, if it doesn’t make sense we won’t. I’d love to have [Bryan Cranston] as a director … character wise, who knows? Maybe there’s a way to do it."

Sounds like the chances of Gus Fring showing up are a little better. Peter Gould told the panel:

"These are all characters we love and with Gus there is so much more to say about that character, and we certainly love Giancarlo [Esposito]. Having said that, we’re trying to make something that stands on its own that has an entertainment value that’s not just seeing a series of old favorites. It’s not the series equivalent of a clip show. So we try to balance these things out. But I agree there’s so much to be said about Gus — although in the series it always seemed to me that Saul didn’t know Gus directly. He knew a guy who knew a guy."

Gilligan also explained why the show was pushed back by AMC. The reason? He’s a slow writer.

Also revealed: the roster of directors for the first five episodes. Vince Gilligan has episode 1, Michelle MacLaren of Game of Thrones fame has episode 2, Breaking Bad veterans Terry McDonough and Colin Bucksey get episodes 3 and 4 respectively and Adam Bernstein (Fargo) gets episode 5.

Oh, and the only piece of information that truly matters? Mike is in it. Who cares about anything else, really.

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