Given the enormous impact that Netflix had on the survival and success of Breaking Bad – with binge-watching viewers primed and ready to send particularly the final season into the stratosphere in terms of the show’s ratings – it’s perhaps not entirely surprising that the streaming service would look to continue the relationship. So it will prove with the spin-off series, Better Call Saul.
The show, which will act as primarily a prequel (with potentially some sequel action) charting the earlier legal wheeler dealings of Bob Odenkirk’s slimy lawyer, is being produced once again by Bad creator Vince Gilligan and co-writer / Goodman-father Peter Gould and will first air on US cable channel AMC. Netflix has the rights to air the show “within days” here, in Europe and Latin America, and will have the entire first season ready to watch once it’s complete.
Better Call Saul will retain the one-hour drama format of its predecessor, although the tone will skew more towards the black comedy the series did so well. It’s all part of Gilligan’s plan to keep things as they were with Breaking Bad. "We're both one-hour drama guys. So we figured, 'Why not shoot Saul in the same way?'” he told The Hollywood Reporter in October. “Let's shoot it in Albuquerque, let's get as much of the crew back together as possible, and let's do it the way we did it before so that it will be of a piece with that pre-existing fictional universe that we had so much fun creating." And though they will no longer be the focus, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul may well pop up for cameos... With luck, Better Call Saul will be on our screens next year.