With his most famous creation, Breaking Bad, about to wrap up, Vince Gilligan is considering his future. He already has one project bobbing in the development pool with Bad spin-off Better Call Saul chronicling the earlier days of Bob Odenkirk’s sleazy lawyer. Yet it appears an older project may also come rushing back to the screen, as Gilligan will team up to develop Battle Creek with House creator David Shore.
It’s an intriguing prospect to have two of the more powerful show runners working together on the potential series. US network CBS (the home of the CSIs, NCISs and Chuck Lorre’s sitcom stable) has ordered a 13-episode run of the show for starters. It’ll follow two detectives with very different worldviews who partner up to tackle crime in Battle Creek, Michigan. Their competing ideals – cynicism, guile and lying vs. naiveté and trust - compete as they see which approach works better.
Gilligan dreamt up the idea back in 2002 and began to develop it when Walter White was but a twinkle in his eye. Apparently the script hung around on the desk of CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler and now, with Breaking Bad ending as the most talked-about show in the world, Gilligan is a much sought-after talent with added clout.
Given that Better Call Saul is set to get moving too, it appears the Breaking Bad creator will only be partially involved in Battle Creek, producing and directing some episodes while Shore does the heavy lifting of running the show. They’ve collaborated on a re-write of the script, which got CBS’ attention and led to the series order. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for something different than the usual police procedural…