Vince Gilligan’s Better Call Saul follow-up sounds all good, man
Networks are lining up for another hunk of Gilligan gold
Aux News Unknown
Like Breaking Bad, M*A*S*H*, and AfterMASH before it, Better Call Saul is ending. The little Breaking Bad spin-off that could enjoyed a healthy seven-year run, emerging from the 2010s as one of the best shows of the century. But what of Vince Gilligan, the show’s co-creator and one of television’s most sought-after and revered showrunners?
Per Deadline, Gilligan’s about to start shopping his new series around Hollywood. He’s playing this one close to the vest, not divulging too many details about his next project before he can pitch to the seven or eight networks and platforms licking their lips at the prospect of more Gilligan. Deadline also reports that the show will take us back to Gilligan’s X-Files roots. The writer-director got his start on the beloved 90s sci-fi procedural; however, this one is closer in tone to The Twilight Zone, described as “a blended, grounded genre drama.”
Nevertheless, Vince Gilligan is leaving the Breaking Bad universe behind, giving him a break from the brutal New Mexican sun. Unfortunately, this means we’ll never have a season of Breaking Badger. Earlier today at TCA, Gilligan said that after 127 hours of television, he can’t keep putting all his “money on red 21.” Simply put, he doesn’t want to be the last guy at the party with “a lampshade on [his] head.”
“I don’t have any plans right now to do anything more in this universe. I know I probably gave the same answer at the end of Breaking Bad. I gotta prove to myself that I got something else in me. I’m not a one trick pony, that’s what I’m hoping.”
He also said that he “can’t wait” for people to see the Saul finale, and by people, he means us because we can’t wait either. The series finale of Better Call Saul airs on AMC next Monday.
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Hopefully Better Call Saul would go out with a graceful bow not only for the whole series, but for the whole Gilligans’ Albuquerque Saga. I do not believe that there’s any more stories left to tell after divulging deeply into Saul Goodman, Walter White, and Jesse Pinkman.Ride out into the sunset, they deserve it.
“divulging deeply”?
It’s interesting how people are acting like everything Gilligan touches turns to gold, considering he also created and wrote a series in 2015 that only lasted one season before getting cancelled that wasn’t Better Call Saul. Anyone here remember Battle Creek?
No just his last two things. And that’s why he wants to prove he isn’t a one trick pony.
Okay, if you count El Camino, his last two things. But, did anyone see and like Battle Creek, which was one of his last two tv dealios?
I remember it. It was a fun show, but it had the misfortune of airing on Sundays on CBS. It should have done better with Gilligan and David Shore (NYPD Blue, House) as creators.
He wrote the pilot for Battle Creek before he wrote Breaking Bad and it sat in a metaphorical desk drawer for years before CBS decided to pick it up. He wasn’t involved with the show except for the pilot script. Since he wrote the pilot, he was listed as an executive producer.
Exactly!
The magic of BB and BCS is the alchemy that comes from passionate craftspeople – in every department – doing their best work and serving a single, cohesive vision. The writing is obviously at the heart of it all, but at the same time, it’s just the starting point.
Dude, look at that photo. He touched Walt and Jesse and THEY turned to gold.
Now this is the solid commentary that keeps me coming to AVC despite is suckishness.
It’s not interesting that no is acting like that, in fact; you’re merely stating that it was said or implied that “everything he touches turns to gold,” when it indeed was not by “everyone” or “anyone.”
I really liked Battle Creek.
You really should’ve started this comment off with ‘Am I the only one who remembers…?” It would’ve given it a little more heft.
Note taken!
You should learn what sarcasm is too.
Will do!
“Everything I touch turns into Acapulco Gold!”
I mean, one failed series that he wasn’t even really involved in weighed against three hit series that he was heavily involved in…
Gotta say, as bleak as things look, and as absolute as I know Gilligan’s moral universe to be, I am kind of hoping for some small note of grace for Jimmy and Kim at the end, amongst the carnage.
Kim maybe. Jimmy is a career criminal. While he hasn’t personally killed anybody, people have died because of him, lives have been ruined, and he doesn’t seem to have any remorse over anything except not getting away with it. Guys like that should not get happy endings.
I didn’t say anything about a happy ending
Agree. Mrs. F. and I, like most people I think, started off rooting for Jimmy. We knew where he was headed but rooted for him anyway. But this Gene guy? Not rooting for him. Jimmy/Saul/Gene should not get anything close to a happy ending. Figuratively or metaphorically.
maybe a Flannery O’Connor-esque moment of self-awareness… Vince Gilligan loves Flannery O’Connor.
I’m hoping for at least 30 minutes of Jimmy pulling cons in prison for cigarettes or copies of Hustler.
Nah, fuck Jimmy.
“I don’t have any plans right now to do anything more in this universe. I know I probably gave the same answer at the end of Breaking Bad”I swear I just read somewhere yesterday that he said they went right into the writers room for BCS after they finished writing BB, which he said is why they were able to do it (mentally). I can’t find that quote but BCS was publically announced two weeks before the last episode of BB aired so I don’t think I’m misremembering. Seemingly odd quote.
Anyway, “after 127 hours of television”—this guy puts in a reference anywhere he can. Confirmed: Saul is going to cut off his arm to escape from handcuffs.
He could have said it privately or had the just thought talking to himself…just sayin’.
I also recall hearing something along these lines.
I’ve actually seen some of AfterMASH.
It doesn’t belong in this conversation.
thatsthejoke.gif
M*A*S*H* —-> M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H* —-> M*A*S*H↓*M*A*S*H* —-> M*A*S*H(And, no harm done!*)(*Unless we consider recursion.)
127 hours?? That means you could watch the entire BB/BCS saga before immediately cutting your arm off in a desert canyon!
this is weird because tonight my sister said to me, “I hope Vince Gilligan does a Twilight Zone-style anthology series.”
His episodes of the X-Files were some of the best
It’s also where he first wrote for Bryan Cranston.
A writer once asked Gilligan who the one person he’d love to have in his writer’s room would be. The answer? Rod Serling.
not going to lie, but i would watch a “Marie Schrader navigating the single life after her husband’s brains were blown out”-type TV show.
That show would be weird as fuck. She was one odd duck.Granted it would be kind of intriguing to see how Marie spent her days.
Shoplifting.
If we could have another ABQ universe series/spinoff, and if Robert Forster were alive, I think a series about his character would be rich with potential. Failing that we could always see what Jesse gets up to, up in Alaska.
Yeah, I’d be happy with a look in at Jesse’s life, and I’d be happy to see more Kim. But that’s about it.
It’s a shame Nacho can’t do it. He would have been my pick for a new spinoff.
The people want Better Call Paige! (And by “the people” I mean me)