We haven’t talked much in a while about Bob Odenkirk’s Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, so I thought I’d bring everyone up to speed on production. First off, we do know that Jonathan Banks will be a series regular, along with Michael McKean. Somewhat familiar actors Patrick Fabian (The Last Exorcism) and Rhea Seehorn (Franklin & Bash) will play attorneys, and Michael Mando have also has joined the cast as a career criminal. Twin skateboarders, Zak and Luke, have yet to be cast. Aaron Paul has visited the writer’s room, and it’s likely that both he and Bryan Cranston will show up with background cameos at some point during the first season (while Dean Norris definitely will not).
We also know that filming began YESTERDAY in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In fact, here’s a shot of the first day of filming.
Here’s a photo from the first table read (and as you can see, Vince Gilligan is directing the pilot, which he co-wrote with Peter Gould, who will be running the show).
Last week, Vince Gilligan also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the show, and I’m sure that it was just production jitters and the fear of uncertainty, but he was not his usual optimistic self. Basically, he said that production is a week behind and that by the end of the week, it’d probably be two weeks behind, and that he didn’t know if Better Call Saul would end up being a success like the Cheers spin-off Frasier was, or if it’d bomb like After M*A*S*H.
“Honestly, I don’t know yet,” he said. “If it’s After M*A*SH rather than Frasier, it won’t be for lack of hard work and wishful thinking and a lot of smart people doing their best, but you just don’t know until the world takes it.” He also noted with honesty that “I am worried that … it may turn out that this was a mistake,” but, he said, there’s not enough time to fixate on that.
In other words, he has concerns just as anyone might when they’re launching a new show, but I suspect that he and Peter Gould will pull through just fine. We’ll find out in November when the show premieres on AMC.
