“Jimmy’s in for quite an emotional ride.”
Much like Frasier, Better Call Saul is that rare thing; a spin-off show that’s arguably as good – and in some cases, maybe even better – than the original that spawned it.
Breaking Bad is rightly regarded as a modern classic, but Better Call Saul stepped out of its shadow almost immediately, sidestepping easy gimmicks and comedy in favour of a slow-burning, compelling story.
Season three concluded in suitably dramatic fashion, and creator Vince Gilligan is currently hard at work on Jimmy’s next steps, promising a “darker” season.
In conversation with the A.V. Club, Gilligan talked about staying the course.
“Every year gets us closer to Jimmy McGill becoming Saul Goodman, and this year will be no different,” he said.
“The worlds of Jimmy and Saul are coming together, and therefore it stands to reason the worlds of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad are overlapping deeper and deeper into one another as well.”
He also noted that the viewers play a huge part in how things turn out.
“The thing we always found, going back to the earliest days of the show, is that sometimes we let the audience figure out the themes for us,” Gilligan said.
I often think they’re better equipped to do it. On our best days, we let the characters tell us where they’re headed, and on the very best days, we writers feel like stenographers: We’re taking down what these characters are doing and where they’re going. They’re leading us around, instead of the reverse.
“And when you’re deep into it, trying to figure out to follow these characters and follow their hearts and tell their stories, (the) theme becomes something that’s on too macro a scale to be readily recognised. In other words, you can’t see the forest for the trees.”
As for that “darker” tease? Gilligan says that there’s “some fascinating stuff” in store.
“The show gets darker this season,” he added.
“I think it’s still going to have moments of humour and those fun Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill moments – I don’t know that they’ll ever go away completely. But as you would expect from the end of season three, Jimmy’s in for quite an emotional ride.”
No date as of yet for the premiere of season four, but we suspect it’s in safe enough hands.
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