David Farnor | On 01, Mar 2017

Breaking Bad fans will get their first look at Saul Goodman in Season 3 of Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk has revealed.

Speaking to the press at an event in Berlin today, the star of the Breaking Bad spin-off confirmed that after two seasons of watching the well-intentioned lawyer Jimmy McGill trying to make it in an unfair world, the third run of the programme would give us our first glimpse of the slime ball he’ll one day turn into.

“It will be Saul Goodman, but not the way you know him from Breaking Bad,” teased Odenkirk. “For the first time we get to see Saul Goodman, but not the way you think. You’ll get to see Saul Goodman, but he is not what you saw in Breaking Bad. That character will appear but in a slightly different form that you’ve seen.”

Odenkirk also confirmed that Gus Fring would be making an appearance – and not just a brief cameo. Giancarlo Esposito’s made no secret of the fact that he will be back as everyone’s favourite drug kingpin and chicken shop owner, with a neat promo video released earlier this year featuring Fring in a fake advert for Los Pollos Hermanos. Odenkirk has confirmed, though, that “not only is Gus back, but there is a story with him”.

“We get to learn a little more about his empire building,” he commented. “He doesn’t just pass through. He’s not just an extraneous character to Saul’s story.”

He also teased “a more dynamic mix of really fun comic sequences and very serious dramatic high drama moments”.

Better Call Saul Seaon 3 will premiere on 10th April on AMC in the US, with episodes arriving on Netflix UK every Tuesday from 11th April.

 

Better Call Saul Season 3 gets April air date as Gus Fring return confirmed

15th January 2017

It’s official: Better Call Saul Season 3 will premiere this April, with Gus Fring definitely set to make an appearance.

AMC confirmed both details about the new season of the Breaking Bad prequel at its panel on the Television Critics Association winter press tour. The show, AMC revealed, will return on 10th April on AMC in the US, which means that the UK air date is all but guaranteed to be Tuesday 11th April. While Netflix, which has the UK rights to the programme, has not yet announced the date, all previous episodes of Better Call Saul have been released in the UK at 8.01am GMT on the day following their US debut. (Expect an official announcement from Netflix UK within the next 24 hours.)

While the date is exciting enough, the real buzz in the last week has been surrounding the arrival of Gus Fring in the spin-off. The return of the chicken shop owner/drug kingpin was teased first in Season 2, then again in a video last week, showing Giancarlo Esposito as Gus in a fake advert for his restaurant, Los Pollos Hermanos.

Not one to disappoint fans, AMC brought out Esposito himself as a surprise guest at the panel, who confirmed that Season 3 will see lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) come into contact with Fring – in case Jimmy’s conflict with his brother, Chuck (Mike McKean), wasn’t dramatic enough already.

Esposito confirmed that, like Jimmy before he becomes Saul Goodman, Gus will be more “immature” in Better Call Saul than in Breaking Bad, as he’s still finding his way through the Albuquerque underworld.

“I’m excited to be back,” he told the press. “[Creator] Vince [Gilligan] described a situation — as he put it to me — Gus is a very cagey character. Again, I go back to the original stage direction Vince wrote which was ‘hiding in plain sight’.”

He added that Fring will have many sides to show, as he grows into his older self, proving to be more “mysterious” in Better Call Saul and that more details about him will “unroll in a way that will leave you with a thirst”.

“Sometimes it’s more exciting to have a character that’s a little bit more mysterious. We’re left wanting to know more,” he continued.

Variety reports that Gus will likely appear in Episode 2 of the new season, with Gilligan set to direct the first two instalments.

Gilligan’s co-creator Peter Gould joked that spelling out “FRINGSBACK” with the Season 2 episode titles “put ourselves into a corner” and that they then had to close a deal with Gus for Season 3.

Eposito joked that the negotiation process took so long before he was hoping for his own prequel series.

“I think there’s enough backstory within Gus to support that,” he quipped. “But that didn’t stop me from wanting to be part of this particular group.”

Esposito added that he had come up with the idea of announcing Fring’s return with the fake Los Pollos Hermanos advert.

Gould, meanwhile, hinted that the show could also spend time with the characters later in their lives too, continuing to use its time jumps to move backwards and forwards in their timelines.

“In some ways, it’s also a sequel to Breaking Bad – who knows what we’re going to see?” he commented.

There still looks to be some way to go, though, in McGill’s journey to become Saul Goodman, with Gould saying that he has only just started to get a real handle on how Odenkirk’s lead will change.

“This season as it progressed, I started to understand it a little bit better,” he added. “You’ll see that it takes a lot of pressure to turn a lump of coal into a diamond. It takes a heck of a lot of pressure to turn a decent man into Saul Goodman.”

“It’s riveting to me to watch people hurtle toward a destiny that I know,” commented Rhea Seahorn, who plays Jimmy’s partner, Kim Wexler.

Here’s hoping that remains true when Season 3 returns in April. Until then, catch up with our reviews of Season 2 here – or see a bunch of new stills from Season 3 below.

 

Better Call Gus? Los Pollos Hermanos teaser lands along with new Season 3 images

12th January 2017

FRING’S BACK. That was the message left by Season 2 of Better Call Saul – literally, as the first letter of every episode title spelled out the warning. On-screen, meanwhile, the Breaking Bad spin-off’s second run climaxed with a note left for Mike Ehrmantraut, by someone whom we suspect is Fring himself.

Now, that seems to be all but confirmed, with our first glimpse of everyone’s favourite crime kingpin and part-time chicken salesman. Not, as you’d expect, in a standard trailer for Better Call Saul’s third season, but in a promo for Albuquerque’s very own KFC, Los Pollos Hermanos (via Variety).

Spicy chicken, curly fries, both of which you’ll love – or it’s on him, promises the smiling, family-friendly patriarch of the world’s most addictive empire. It’s the biggest clue yet to Fring’s appearance in the life of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill, and with Season 3 of Better Call Saul on the horizon for spring, Giancarlo Esposito is on his kindest, creepiest form.

He’s not the only making a return, of course, and you can catch Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler in action too, plus creator Vince Gilligan, in a bunch of new stills (some behind-the-scenes) released for the third season. Watch this space for a premiere date, which will air on Netflix in the UK within 24 hours of the show’s US debut this spring. (Catch up with our reviews of Better Call Saul Season 2 here.) Until then, watch the video above, or click through the photos below:

 

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Photos: Michele K. Short/ AMC / Sony Pictures
 

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