AMC has picked up its hit Breaking Badspinoff,Better Call Saul,for a 10-episode third season, Varietyreports.
The show is halfway through its second season and continues to score big ratings. It also racked up seven Emmy nominations last year, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for Bob Odenkirk, and Supporting Actor in a Drama for Jonathan Banks.
Setsix years before the saga of Walter White, Better Call Saulchronicles the transformation of aspiring lawyer Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) into the slimy, conniving criminal attorney, Saul Goodman. The series was created byBreaking Badmastermind Vince Gilligan and longtime series writer and producer, Peter Gould.
Whileboth Odenkirk and Banks have reprised their roles from Breaking Bad(Banks as fixer Mike Ehrmantraut), theBetter Call Saul primary cast boasts mostly newcomers including Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando and Michael McKean. Still, the serieshas brought back a handful ofBreaking Badcharacters,including drug dealer Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) and his uncle, thehigh-ranking cartel member, Hector Tio Salamanca(Mark Margolis). Aaron Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman, has also expressed interest in reprisinghis role on Better Call Saul.
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In an interview with Rolling Stone last March, Odenkirk spoke about the pressure of following up a hit show and critical darlinglike Breaking Bad, especially consideringthe poor track records of most spinoffs.
We all approached it with great care in the sense of just how much of a risk it was, he said. The way to counter-balance those concerns is are we pursuing an idea because theres an original inspiration to it? And I left that question to Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, and their answer was a pretty assured, yes. And keep in mind, they started thinking about this years ago. It didnt come out of finishing Breaking Bad and being lost for another project.