Mashable wrote:'Better Call Saul': Vince Gilligan Spills Details
Eight episodes into writing the first season of Better Call Saul, creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are finally spilling some details about one of television's most anticipated shows.
The series, they revealed Friday during the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles, will be set six years before Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) met Walter White (Bryan Cranston), which puts the show in approximately 2002. When viewers meet Saul, he sports the name Jimmy McGill and is a small-time lawyer "searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet," according to a description for the series, which is set to debut in 2015.
But while the story will be set in the past and chronicles Jimmy's transformation into Saul, as widely reported, the timeline will be flexible. Or, as Gilligan put it, the show will very much reflect the way arcs were told on Breaking Bad.
"You saw from Breaking Bad that we like nonlinear storytelling. We like jumping around in time. I would definitely [say] anything possible on Breaking Bad storytelling wise is possible on Better Call Saul."
Meanwhile, the duo confirmed the addition of Michael McKean (This Is Spinal Tap) to the cast, and revealed that the actor will play Saul's brother. "So we have these two comedy legends working together," Gould said.
Here are some other nuggets we learned:
Gilligan takes blame for the delay
While delays in production are often thought of as signals of creative disarray, Gilligan said that's not the case with Better Call Saul, which had its premiere pushed back last month. Gilligan said he's simply a slow writer.
"I'm going to take full responsibility for this. We could have made the deadline but...I am slow as mud as a TV writer. I always have been," he said. But AMC was aware of this going in, he said. In fact, Gilligan pointed to the splitting of Breaking Bad's final season — into two blocks of eight episodes each — as another instance where his languid writing affected the show's airing. "They were very understanding. Luckily, that worked out very well," he said. "They've been good to us which is why we like working with them."
The stately pace and attention to detail, though, he said, has paid off. "It's nothing any studio or network would want, but we have a way of doing things that are slower than other TV shows....We want to think everything through and we feel that pays dividends."
Returns are possible (Duh.)
Will we see Chili? Will we see Gus? "There's always a chance," said Gilligan. Though Gould added, "We're trying to make something that stands on its own that has an entertainment value that's not just seeing a series of old favorites. It's not the series equivalent of a clip show."
Previously, it was announced that Jonathan Banks would reprise his role as Mike Ehrmantraut.
Additionally, the network confirmed the addition of Rhea Seehorn (Whitney), Patrick Fabian (Grey’s Anatomy) and Michael Mando (Orphan Black) to Saul's cast.
Nervous about the show? So are the creators
"It's a challenge," said Gilligan of opening up Saul's history. "It's a leap of faith or stupidity into the unknown...I thought it was going to be kind of easy — 'We know who this guy is.' We really didn't know who this guy was at all." The limits of their storytelling, however, have become apparent, Gilligan said. "We know where this guy is going. We can't, for instance, in the first episode have him lose an arm or an eye."
Gould, meanwhile, said they've zeroed in on one central question that has driven their story, however. "We ask ourselves: 'What problem does being Saul Goodman solve?'"
Gilligan added: "Anything worth having is worth the risk of abject humiliating failure."