The ‘Better Call Saul’ Co-Creator Explains Why The Final Season Begins Differently Than Every Other Season

For the first five seasons of Better Call Saul, every premiere began the same way: with a check-in on Gene, a.k.a. Omaha Gene, a.k.a. Cinnabon Gene, a.k.a. definitely not Saul Goodman / Jimmy McGill. So, in an episode full of shocking moments, maybe the most shocking moment of last night’s season six premiere was the lack of Gene. Instead, “Wine and Roses” kicked things off with Saul’s house being raided by the authorities following the events of Breaking Bad. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of Gene to come.

“As we started talking about the whole season, we realized that this season has a very different structure from the other seasons of the show. It has a different structure, it goes into places that we’ve never been before, there are shocks of many kinds and it seemed like starting it in a different way was the right thing to do, waiting to see Gene Takovic might make sense at this point,” co-creator Peter Gould told the Hollywood Reporter.

He continued:

“It’s no big surprise that Gene is part of the show, because that’s the key art, Bob as Gene Takovic the Cinnabon manager, either taking off or putting on a Saul Goodman sports coat. So I think it’s a pretty good bet that we’re gonna see Gene, but maybe waiting to see him is the right move.”

Here’s the key art that Gould is referring to:

The lack of Gene in the premiere was a real disappointment to the Cinnabon Twitter account, which, ahead of the episode, tweeted, “Our employee of the month is reporting for his shift today #iykyk.” He must’ve been a no call, no show. If only he got paid more.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)