Bob Odenkirk Thinks ‘Better Call Saul’ Shouldn’t Run Any Longer Than ‘Breaking Bad’

Back in April, Giancarlo Esposito — who plays Gus Fring on Better Call Saul and previously on Breaking Bad — suggested, unofficially, that the next season of Saul would be its second to last. “There will be six seasons, seems like that’s the way, the comfortable way to end this show,” Esposito told Collider while also mentioning that a new character, Lalo Salamanca, will present certain obstacles for Gus in the fifth season.

In a recently published transcript of an earlier interview with GoldDerby, series star Bob Odenkirk seemed to echo Esposito’s assessment of the series’ runtime, suggesting that he sees a similar endpoint for the series.

I feel like the way these guys tell a story, I feel like maybe two seasons. Maybe. I also like when the story speeds up. I respect how good they are at picking things apart and slowing them down but I like when things go a little faster, so for me, I feel like two seasons would be the outside of it.

Odenkirk added that Saul should end after 60 episodes, two episodes less than Breaking Bad. “I’d like to fall short of Breaking Bad. If Breaking Bad is the mothership then we shouldn’t be as big as them.”

Of particular interest for Odenkirk is seeing more of Gene after the events of Breaking Bad, which could theoretically occupy much of the sixth season and even potentially intersect with the Breaking Bad sequel currently in the works, which will reportedly air on Netflix before AMC. If that were the plan, it would make sense to spend at least some of the time in season 5 and six in the same timeline as Breaking Bad so that viewers could see Saul’s perspective on those events.

Writing a season five that might intersect with the events of Breaking Bad, of course, would present a challenge for both the writers and potentially scheduling logistics with cast members, which may explain why the fifth season will not debut until 2020.

As for the fifth season, it is expected to explore whether Jimmy McGill — now that he’s fully evolved into Saul Goodman — can maintain his relationship with Kim Wexler. Odenkirk, for the record, has doubts about that as well, as he told GoldDerby. “I don’t know how they stay together,” he said, adding that she “probably also thinks there’s just no future in it for them together.”

If that is the case, and Saul and Kim’s relationship does not survive a fifth season, I am still hopeful that Gene and Kim can somehow reunite in Omaha after the events of Breaking Bad. I’m not so sure, however, how willing Kim will be to settle down with the manager of a Cinnabon.