Vince Gilligan Wants a Saul Goodman ‘Breaking Bad’ Spinoff
‘Breaking Bad’ season five is underway and what’s next for series creator Vince Gilligan? Maybe a spinoff show featuring Walter White’s shady lawyer, Saul Goodman?
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AMC’s critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, one of television’s most fascinating character pieces, recently premiered the first episode of its final season.
Even though season five is already underway, fans still have until 2013 to enjoy the show – since AMC extended the show’s final installment to sixteen episodes (split over two years). However, considering the plethora of rich and interesting characters in the series, its shouldn’t come as a surprise that creator, Vince Gilligan, may not be entirely ready to let every one of his creations go. Recent comments suggest that the showrunner could spinoff one Breaking Bad member into an entirely new series – specifically smarmy lawyer Saul Goodman.
Portrayed by Bob Odenkirk, Goodman is one of the standout characters on the AMC show – due to a solid performance from the fan-favorite actor as well as an especially entertaining narrative premise. Not only does Goodman continually stoop to shady business practices in order to get his (typically) criminal clients off the hook, the lawyer’s incessant tongue-wagging, not to mention penchant for self-preservation, injects plenty of much needed levity into the show’s weighty plot.
It’s a combination that has Gilligan considering post-Breaking Bad misadventures for Goodman:
I would love to see a Saul Goodman spinoff. I can’t say that it is genuinely in the works at this moment, but certainly Bob Odenkirk and I have talked about it a little bit. I can’t promise that it will ever happen, but I think I personally, as fan number one of this world, meaning the first one to partake of these plot moments and whatnot, I personally would love to tune in and see a good Saul Goodman show.
I like the idea of a lawyer show in which the main lawyer will do anything it takes to stay out of a court of law. He’ll settle on the courthouse steps, whatever it takes to stay out of the courtroom. That would be fun — I would like that.
Of course, a Saul Goodman spinoff would be a very (VERY) different show than the descent into criminality and madness that punctuates Walter White’s Breaking Bad storyline. Arguably, one of the most intriguing character pieces in television history, Breaking Bad has charted Walter’s evolution season to season, peeling back one layer after another – in order to explore exactly how far the one-time high school chemistry teacher would go to protect the people he loves.
Instead, it’d be harder to flesh Goodman out – given that his role on the show is largely reserved for comic-relief and exposition. This isn’t to say that Gilligan and Odenkirk couldn’t find deeper elements to the character; however, it’s much more likely that (should the creator get a chance to tackle the spinoff) a Goodman-centric show would need some straight-faced supporting castmates – since Goodman would be the crazy one – and rely on a series of kooky scenarios instead of a heavy-hitting dramatic arc.
While talk of a Saul Goodman spinoff might be premature at this point, a “different” Breaking Bad franchise show isn’t necessarily a bad thing – and could actually be a fun detour for Gilligan, not to mention viewers, after the challenging and at times exhausting Walter White experience.
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Breaking Bad season 5 is currently airing on AMC.
Source: Indie Wire [via /Film]
Ben Kendrick is the publisher of Screen Rant, the site’s head film critic, as well as host of the Screen Rant Underground and Total Geekall podcast. He is a member of the Denver Film Critics Society as well as the Online Film Critics Society – with work referenced, cited, or syndicated on CNN, Wikipedia, Huffington Post, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Yahoo, and Business Insider, among others. A graduate of the New School’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, Ben has been passionate about movies ever since standing in line for a midnight showing of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when he was eight years-old. Thanks to a background in fiction writing, Ben is drawn to films that make story and character a priority; however, that doesn’t stop him from enjoying a range of Hollywood offerings – from blockbuster action flicks to campy so-bad-they’re-good B-movies. Visit Ben Kendrick’s website for info on his fiction work, follow him on Twitter @benkendrick, subscribe to his (humorous) five guys watch The Bachelor podcast, or contact him directly: ben(at)screenrant(dot)com.
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