‘Better Call Saul’ Couldn’t Exist Without ‘Breaking Bad,’ but Not for the Reason You Think

Better Call Saul owes its existence to Breaking Bad. That’s obvious, since Breaking Bad invented the character of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). But there’s more to it than that. Odenkirk and co-creator Peter Gould say Breaking Bad taught them invaluable lessons. They never would have attempted Better Call Saul otherwise. 

Odenkirk and Gould were guests on the Better Call Saul Insider podcast on Aug. 16, the day after the series finale aired. Reflecting on the six seasons of Saul, Odenkirk and Gould agreed they owe a lot to Breaking Bad.

‘Breaking Bad’ introduced a tone ‘Better Call Saul’ pushed further 

Breaking Bad was the intense, violent drama about Walter White (Bryan Cranston) becoming a meth kingpin. Better Call Saul was about what led Jimmy McGill to become Saul Goodman in the first place, let alone help Walter launder his meth money. 

“Breaking Bad also got the audience to grasp that there could be really juicy fun comedy in deadly quiet drama as well,” Odenkirk said on Better Call Saul Insider. “So we got to work with that, too. Without Breaking Bad there’s no Better Call Saul. I don’t mean inventing the character of Saul. I mean the wave that we got to ride into our show just was necessary to do a show as off the traditional parameters as Better Call Saul is.” 

Peter Gould confirmed the transitive properties of ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’

Gould confirmed Odenkirk nailed it. 

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Gould said. “I think we both said you could have Breaking Bad without Better Call Saul but Better Call Saul would never exist without Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad gave us the ability to do all these nutty things like having Mike have more or less a separate parallel storyline. Everything about it, and also we’re making a show about a corrupt, fast talking attorney who the guy doesn’t even become for many seasons. It’s everything but it’s also, more subtly, the tone.”

The prequel was more ambiguous than its predecessor 

Gould also acknowledged how differently the shows established their theses. Breaking Bad was clear from the beginning, but Better Call Saul took its time. 

You said something in the New York Times I thought was really astute just talking about how by the end of that first episode of Breaking Bad, he’s already involved in the drug world. He’s already killed, apparently killed two guys, really killed one. By the end of our first episode, what, he’s managed to get a gun pointed at his head which is I guess a promise of something but it’s a different kind of story. They gave us enough rope, I don’t mean just the studio, the network but the audience did. They gave us enough rope to hopefully not hang ourselves but they gave us enough slack to try something I think is really different.

Peter Gould, Better Call Saul Insider, 8/16/22