There Will Be No ‘Better Call Saul’ In 2019

When we last left Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill — who never quite got over his brother’s death, or the shadow of his brother that hung over him — had fully transformed into Saul Goodman. We haven’t got a ton of details about where Better Call Saul will be headed in season five, though it appears that Saul will explore the relationship between Kim and Jimmy now that Jimmy is Saul.

Unfortunately, fans of the series are going to have to wait for a while before the next season of Better Call Saul arrives on AMC. During an earnings call with AMC this week, we learned that the Breaking Bad spin-off will not be returning in 2019. The head of AMC, Sarah Barnett, would not offer anything else about the series, except that talent concerns drove the decision, and that Saul is closer to the end than it is the beginning.

The move actually makes sense. The series has taken longer in the last two seasons than the first two seasons (seasons one and two began in February, while season 3 began in April and season 4 in August). We’re it to follow a similar schedule, it would premiere in October, which is when The Walking Dead typically debuts, so it’s probably best to hold it until either the interim between the two halves of The Walking Dead or April 2020, when The Walking Dead is wrapping up its tenth season.

It also makes sense because Peter Gould and Vince Gillian typically take at least a full six months to write the season before shooting even begins, and Saul may take more finessing, particularly if it needs to work in conjunction with the Breaking Bad movie, which is expected to center on Aaron Paul’s character in a post-Breaking Bad world. That might also entail crossing paths with Gene, the future incarnation of Saul Goodman, who currently lives in Nebraska. As Better Call Saul approaches the Breaking Bad timeline, there’s also a higher degree of difficulty where it concerns the writing (and possibly more scheduling conflicts, should additional Breaking Bad characters need to be added to the mix).

In either case, it’s going to be a long wait for season 5 of Better Call Saul, but if there’s one thing we know from past seasons, it’s that it will be worth it. In the meantime, Killing Eve, which will now air on both BBC America and AMC, may satiate the fix for those looking for a smart, sophisticated drama.