The BETTER CALL SAUL Team on Wrapping Up the BREAKING BAD Franchise

“If we don’t win the Nobel Prize for this, I’m gonna be very disappointed,” co-creator Vince Gilligan joked about the BETTER CALL SAUL series finale (which airs Monday, August 15) during the show’s Television Critics Association panel.

After successfully spinning off SAUL from one of the most critically acclaimed dramas of the 21st century (aka BREAKING BAD), ending the series in the right way, is “a lot of pressure,” co-creator Peter Gould acknowledged. “It’s very scary. A lot of sweaty palms, a lot of sleepless nights…those of us on the show are very happy with where it ended. I hope everybody else agrees, [be]cause I think the thing that I’m most proud of is I think the show, it’s true to itself. And we’re playing in the same court that we started with, and I think that’s an accomplishment. But whether people find it all their dreams and hopes…all we can do is hope. But Nobel Prize would be great, yeah.”

Gilligan was also quick to heap praise on Gould, who wrote and directed SAUL’s final hour. “I can talk with unabashed delight about the finale, ’cause I had very little to do with it,” he noted. “[Peter] is a modest gentleman, so he’s not gonna talk about how friggin’ great it is. It is awesome. I can’t wait for people to see it. It was such a delight. I was busy shooting [episode] 12 when Peter was writing and starting to direct 13. And it was just—man, I can’t wait for people to see it.”

“I’m not as anxious nearly as I was with BREAKING BAD [ending, which Gilligan created], [be]cause I feel…I don’t know why, I’m getting older or something, but the pressure is just I’ve got other things to worry about with the world ending, stuff like that,” he continued. “But…I can’t wait to see how people are gonna react to this. I’m so proud of it. Peter did a fantastic job.”

Series star Bob Odenkirk (Jimmy, aka Saul) notes his calmness about the finale reaction is a mixture of the episode itself and the feedback the team has gotten from fans over the years. “I’m not stressed out, and I haven’t been since I read it because…the writers have found a way to deliver on the heart of the show,” he said. “I think the other reason I’m not stressed out is over the course of six years, I feel like the audience has been amazing, just amazing. And they are dialed in to what this show is about. And, you know, BREAKING BAD is such a huge monster show, and it is a cornerstone of television…We’ve been allowed to find our own place to live and what matters to this show, the place this show lives in. I think this ending goes right to the heart of where this show found itself.”

The end of the series will also mark the conclusion of the BREAKING BAD franchise. (BB ran from 2008-2013; SAUL was ordered in 2013, before bowing in 2015. Standalone film EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE debuted in 2019.) And while the team was clear they’re not looking to dive back into another sequel or prequel within the show’s extended universe, they are hoping to find a way to work together again.

“My brain goes more towards how do I configure a way to work with these people again?” series star Rhea Seehorn (Kim) says. “This quality of writing, this quality of cast, this quality of showrunners and directors. I know Bob and I intend to work together, and I’m just going to make him write things for me. And working with Vince and Peter and our whole murderer’s row of writers is something that I really hope to manifest.”

BETTER CALL SAUL, Series Finale, Monday, August 15, AMC

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