With Breaking Bad set to end its run this summer, we previously reported that creator Vince Gilligan and writer/producer Peter Gould are developing a comedy spin-off based around Bob Odenkirk’s slimeball lawyer Saul Goodman. In an interview with Empire out today, Gilligan spoke at length about a Saul Goodman spin-off, saying that he’d like to see it happen but that it probably won’t live up to the hype of Breaking Bad. Here’s everything Vince Gilligan said about the project today:
Well, you never assume lightning is going to strike twice. Having said that, I think a Saul Goodman show would be a great deal of fun, and a great challenge, and something I would look forward to doing. It’s definitely not set in stone yet, it’s definitely the early days of the process, and it may happen or it may not.I personally would like to see it happen, because I think it would be its own creation and its own creature, and I think it would exist in a Breaking Bad universe, as it centres on a character that was integral to Breaking Bad, but I think it’s its own thing. It’s like comparing an apple to an orange. Or white meth to blue meth.We would do our very best to make it a very good show indeed, as we always do with Breaking Bad, but if it doesn’t come out quite as good then… well, we’ll move heaven and earth to make it every bit as high quality as Breaking Bad, but then there’s the intangible question of whether it’ll affect people, whether it’ll move people as much as the mothership show did, and there’s no real answer to that. In fact, the safest answer to that is: ‘Probably not to the same level.’Then you ask yourself, “Does that mean it’s not worth doing?†I think it is indeed worth doing, and the way to approach it is by knowing that it’s not going to be the same thing. It’s not to be completely of a piece with the original show, but if it’s a challenge, and it’s interesting to us to do it, that’s reason enough. Worst case scenario, it’s like the spin-off to M*A*S*H, AfterMASH, that nobody remembers – and I don’t think it hurt M*A*S*H any that it existed. I don’t think we’re going to have that problem, though. Anything based around the character of Saul Goodman and any show starring the wonderful Bob Odenkirk has more than an even chance of being quite good indeed.