‘Better Call Saul’ Showrunner Peter Gould Says Season 6 Won’t Be Split Into 2 Parts Like ‘Breaking Bad’ — ‘That Doesn’t Feel Great to Me’
Better Call Saul fans are eager to find out the conclusion of Jimmy McGill’s story. There are so many questions swirling as season 6 looms — Will Kim Wexler pull the ultimate con on Howard Hamlin? Will Lalo catch up with Nacho after his epic betrayal? Will writers find a way to work in a Walt and Jesse cameo, like Bryan Cranston keeps requesting?
Unfortunately, the global pandemic put a damper on those big plans. The team is hard at work on writing the final season of Better Call Saul using Zoom conferencing technology. But filming will inevitably be delayed until 2021, pushing back the season premiere by months.
Some fans wish showrunner Peter Gould would split the final season into two parts to get it done faster. He said that’s probably not going to happen.
The final season of ‘Breaking Bad’ was split in two
Comparisons between Better Call Saul and the series it’s based upon are inevitable. One reason fans are so intent on the solution of splitting the final installment of the show into two parts is the precedent already set by Breaking Bad.
Breaking Bad’s last season was divided into 5A and 5B. The first part aired from July 15 to Sept. 2, 2012 while the second part was broadcast Aug. 11 to Sept. 29, 2013. This was done to give more time to adequately tell Walter White’s story and give a boost to ratings — and therefore revenue — by extending the conclusion.
Peter Gould doesn’t want to split ‘Better Call Saul’ season 6 in half
Fans came up with a simple solution to combat filming delays. Splitting the final season into two parts would give more time for the crew to develop the second half, which would lead to the first part of season 6 being released sooner. However, Gould doesn’t love the idea.
He said AMC has the final say. But he votes no on splitting it up. “My preference is to have the episodes run one right after the other, but AMC knows what’s right for them, too,” Gould told The Hollywood Reporter.
“But I think there is a power to just having one episode after another. And I know we did break Breaking Bad, the final two seasons were eight episodes each. But I don’t think splitting six and seven episodes, that doesn’t feel great to me. Personally, I’d rather sit down and watch a new episode every week for 13 weeks. I hope that’s what happens.”
The ‘Better Call Saul’ team will start shooting season 6 soon
According to Gould, the writing team is about halfway done with writing the final season, which will have 13 episodes and bring the total episode count to 63 (one more than Breaking Bad had). Then the crew will head back to Albuquerque for shooting, but only after being cleared to do so.
“Our studio, Sony, is working very, very hard and with great attention to detail and a great use of resources to find ways to shoot not just our show, but all their shows safely,” Gould told THR. “…It’s my sincere hope is that we go back to work before too long, but we’ll have to see.”
So far, the plan is to start shooting Better Call Saul Season 6 in early 2021.
