Why Better Call Saul Is Ending With Season 6
Better Call Saul, the spinoff and prequel of Breaking Bad, is officially coming to an end after season 6. Here's why the series is concluding.
Better Call Saul is officially coming to an end with its sixth and final season. The series, created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, served as a spinoff and prequel to Gilligan’s Breaking Bad. Both series garnered critical acclaim from critics and viewers. To further expand the shared universe, a Breaking Bad sequel movie, El Camino, debuted on Netflix last October. Here’s why Better Call Saul is ending after season 6, and whether Gilligan is ready to move on from the world of Breaking Bad.
Breaking Bad originally ran from 2008 until 2013 and primarily centered on the lives of teacher-turned-drug-kingpin, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), and his partner in crime, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Two years after Breaking Bad came to an end, Gilligan debuted Better Call Saul, a spinoff that focused on con-man and lawyer Jimmy McGill. To Breaking Bad fans, the character played by Bob Odenkirk was known as Saul Goodman. The prequel series was to follow Jimmy’s journey as he fell deeper into a life of helping criminals before he met Walt and Jesse. Better Call Saul also featured a number of Breaking Bad characters such as Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
Better Call Saul season 5 is set to premiere in late February after a 16-month hiatus. Season 5 will continue following Jimmy’s journey after deciding practice under the name, Saul Goodman. Gus, meanwhile, is still trying to undermine the Salamanca family, particularly Hector. Mike continues to act as Gus’ right-hand man while overseeing the construction of the meth superlab under the laundry warehouse. It has been confirmed that season 5 will feature a few other Breaking Bad vets, including Dean Norris as Hank Schrader, Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez, and the late Robert Forster as Ed Galbraith. Esposito stated that season 6 would most likely be the show’s last and it seems that notion came true.
Vince Gilligan Is Ready To Step Away From The Breaking Bad Universe
Gilligan and Gould provided an explanation for the show’s cancellation when the season 6 renewal was made. During Better Call Saul‘s TCA panel, Gould stated that his “dream was to tell the complete story of our complicated and compromised hero, Jimmy McGill – now AMC and Sony are making that dream come true.” That indicates that Gould and Gilligan mapped out the story they wanted to tell and feel as though it can be finished with a sixth and final installment. It’s important to add that season 6 was green lit for 13 episodes, three more than the other seasons, meaning that the final chapter will be expansive.
As for whether Gilligan would visit the Breaking Bad universe in the near future with another project like El Camino, the creator answered with “probably not.” It’s safe to assume that Gilligan is ready to step away from this world he created, at least for the time being. After ending Better Call Saul on his own terms, Gilligan is probably ready to dive into new projects. Gould denied the possibility that Cranston and Paul would cameo in Better Call Saul before the show came to an end, but Gilligan remained coy. The men still have some secrets in their sleeves but the Breaking Bad universe could truly be coming to an end next year. Fans can catch the final two chapters of Better Call Saul when season 5 begins on February 23 followed up by season 6 sometime in 2021.
