It’s been almost a year since Vince Gilligan’s beloved and award-winning opus about one man’s spiralling descent into evil left the silver screen for good. Even though fans of Breaking Bad knew the end was in sight for one Walter White, it was still a bitter pill to swallow that Bryan Cranston would no longer don the Heisenberg guise.
Only, shortly after the series’ curtain call, AMC commissioned a spinoff show that took place before the events of Walt and Jessie and instead followed motor-mouthed lawyer, Saul Goodman. That show was Better Call Saul, and ahead of its premiere in early 2015, the network has unveiled a brief new clip that showcases the devious conman in action.
“I bet if we were in church right now, I’d get a big Amen! You with me ladies and gentlemen?” Saul asks, to a muted response.
Billed as a prequel, Better Call Saul will chart the titular lawyer — once known as James M. McGuill — in the early days of his career as he struggles to make a name for himself. And while we can expect a more comedic tone than Breaking Bad, Gilligan has stated that the spinoff will retain those familiar strands of darkness that made his magnum opus so special.
Looking ahead to the anticipated premiere, there’s no doubt that Bob Odenkirk brought Saul to life tremendously well for Breaking Bad, providing audiences with a truly memorable side character. But whether the show can sustain this across an entire season remains to be seen; after all, it’s unlikely that the actor will capture the same gravitas as Cranston.
That said, while Better Call Saul is set within the same universe as its critically-adorned forebearer, this is very much a different beast, and it’ll be fascinating to see the final product when it debuts across AMC and Netflix in early 2015.
