SDCC 2018: ‘Better Call Saul’ Panel Recap

Jimmy McGill is closer than ever to becoming Saul Goodman in Season 4 of Better Call Saul, the creators and cast revealed during Thursday’s San Diego Comic-Con panel.

The Breaking Bad spin-off’s panel, moderated by comedian Bill Burr, featured Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, as well as actors Bob Odenkirk (Jimmy McGill), Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler), Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin), Michael Mando (Nacho Varga) and Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring).

We last left McGill after a devastating fall-out with his brother Chuck, who later that day died by suicide in a fiery blaze, something that will definitely push McGill further down the road to becoming the sleazy lawyer fans first met on Breaking Bad. There’s a lot of darkness to Season 4, Gilligan teased during the panel, but also some of the funniest material the cast has ever produced.

McGill said “it hurts [his] heart a little” to watch his character turning from the fundamentally good McGill to the crooked Goodman.

But he holds out even the tiniest bit of hope for Goodman in the future, adding, “We don’t know what his home life is [in Breaking Bad],” joking that his relationship with Wexler could maybe just be unspoken in the original series.

He adds that he still wonders “whether [on Breaking Bad] he’s hiding a part of himself sort of from himself, or whether he has another dimension to his life in Breaking Bad time that feels more like Jimmy. Like part of him has been kept alive in some arena, maybe he goes and helps at the Boys and Girls Club of Albuquerque.”

Gilligan added, “It is kind of a tragedy, because who would you rather have a beer with, Jimmy McGill or Saul Goodman?”

For Seehorn, she said she’s most fascinated by whether McGill would have become Goodman eventually regardless of his circumstances — a nature vs. nurture kind of thing. Esposito added that watching someone who is not necessarily a bad person become so comfortable in the skin of someone so evil.

The show is also getting closer to Breaking Bad. “The overlap between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is getting bigger and bigger,” Gilligan said of Season 4.

“I think you’re going to see a few familiar faces that you will enjoy,” Gould added.

Teasing these potential appearances and connections between the two shows, Gilligan and Gould said they often discuss in the writers’ room whether they need to make their breadcrumbs more obvious.

“Usually the answer is ‘No,’ because you guys are watching so carefully,” Gilligan said.

One crossover character between the two series is Gus, who Esposito said he based entirely around the stage direction “hiding in plain sight.”

“Wow, not only is the character someone I’ve never seen before … but it will remind you to look closely at your neighbors,” Esposito said of his process developing Gus.

As for whether playing a lawyer on TV made them feel like they could handle any kind of legal situation in real life? “I could fool an idiot,” Odenkirk joked to uproarious laughter.

Season 4 of Better Call Saul premieres Monday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

Photo credit: AMC