Bob Odenkirk on Better Call Saul Ending: "It Hasn't Hit Me Yet"
More than a decade after Walter White and Jesse Pinkman first called crooked lawyer Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad, Bob Odenkirk is saying goodbye to Better Call Saul. The spinoff, set before (and after) meth makers Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) retained their criminal lawyer, returns with its sixth and final season April 18 on AMC and AMC+. The 13-episode finale season is expected to be the last time Odenkirk plays "Slippin'" Jimmy McGill, completing his transformation into Goodman as the prequel barrels towards the events of Breaking Bad.
"[It sunk in Saul was ending] a few weeks ago," Odenkirk told Variety about filming the series wrap on the AMC drama in February. "It hasn't hit me yet. I have to watch the end. I really feel like when I watch the finale is when it will hit me."
But Saul's series finale is still months away. After the Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould co-created spinoff returns with a two-episode Season 6 premiere on April 18, the two-part finale season will air its final six episodes starting July 11 for an August finish.
"It's weird, but we've been planning it and writing it, [Gilligan and Gould] have been writing it for years, and we always take breaks between seasons — we even had a big, long break because of Covid — so my brain is kind of like, 'When are we going back?'" Odenkirk said. "I think the truth is when I see it, even though I've played it already, even though I did it, when I see it I think it will have great closure."
Breaking Bad creator Gilligan has hinted Saul's sixth and final season will be the end of the Bad-verse, which spawned five seasons of the original flagship and the Gilligan-directed made-for-TV spinoff movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
"I don't have any plans right now to do anything more with the Breaking Bad universe except for helping Peter Gould and the writers finish up Better Call Saul. Having said that, I have surprised myself in the past, clearly," Gilligan told EW in 2019, referencing the existence of Saul and El Camino after he once said the 2013 finale of Breaking Bad would be the end. "But I'm starting to think — I used this expression a lot in 2013 — I don't want to overstay my welcome. I hope I haven't at this point."
Better Call Saul Season 6 premieres with two back-to-back episodes on Monday, April 18 at 9:00pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. Saul's 13-episode final season will roll out in two parts with the first seven episodes beginning April 18 and culminating with the series' final six episodes beginning July 11.