Breaking Bad and Community Star Jonathan Banks Joins AMC's Better Call Saul

Jonathan Banks, best known to fans as Mike Ehrmantraut on the hit AMC series Breaking Bad, has officially signed on to reprise his role in the show's prequel, Better Call Saul. Fans had hoped to see Banks and his on-screen boss Gus Fring (Revolution's Giancarlo Esposito) return, since the pair had a relationship with series lead Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) before he ever crossed paths with Bryan Cranston's Walter White. The series is being overseen by executive producers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, with Gilligan acting as showrunner--the same roles the pair had on Breaking Bad. "I would say the sky's the limit, at least theoretically speaking," EW quotes Gilligan as having said about the spinoff. "Realistically speaking, we've got a whole lot of actors, and the world is now well-aware of their wonderful talents and abilities, and therefore Breaking Bad has probably made it tougher for Peter and I to get some of these folks pinned down for another TV show… Better Call Saul could be The Love Boat of its generation, where instead of Milton Berle showing up in a sailor's cap, hopefully it could be Aaron Paul, also in a sailor's cap." Even though the series is set to debut on AMC in November, so far Banks and Odenkirk are the only cast members officially signed. Besides Esposito, most are expecting at least Huell Babineaux (Lavell Crawford) to appear on the show. Banks is currently appearing on NBC's Community in recurring role; if that show gets a sixth season, it will be interesting to see whether he will be written off (he's become a key part of the series, essentially slotted in to replace the departed Chevy Chase) or if they'll work around Saul.