‘Better Call Saul’: Bob Odenkirk Teases What’s Next for Him as ‘Breaking Bad Spinoff Concludes

Better Call Saul is coming to a close, bookending more than a decade of actor Bob Odenkirk playing Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill, a role he originated on Breaking Bad in 2009. Now, with the franchise coming to a close, or at least a pause, Odenkirk teased what’s next for him. Speaking during the AMC TCA panel on Wednesday, Odenkirk revealed he has some other things in the works and plans to mix it up a little. 

“I’m looking to do something different,” the actor told PopCulture and other media present at the event. Odenkirk went on to explain that he had so much fun with Better Call Saul because he got to do “pure comedy” and “pure drama” in the same show. On the other hand, Odenkirk adds, he went into showbiz to do different things. “I’m excited to do something tonally different and then something totally tonally different than that,” he said. Notably, franchise creator Vince Gilligan shared a similar sentiment adding, “You gotta know when to leave the party — I don’t have any more plans right now to do anything more in this universe.” Gilligan also said that he wants to do something else to prove he’s not a “one trick pony.”

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Fans may not have to wait too long for Odenkirk’s return, as he has already landed a new TV role. AMC has announced that Odenkirk is attached to Straight Man, which would mark his third series with the network, after Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The new show is described as being “a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.”

Straight Man is being adapted by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, from a novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo. If the show is picked up for a full season, the pair would also serve as co-showrunners. “I loved Paul and Aaron’s take on Richard’s excellent, entertaining novel,” Odenkirk said in a press release statement. “Once again a project with AMC with a focus on character depth and sensitivity.”

He added, “This milieu (academia) seems very pertinent to the conversations we’re all having.I am drawn to the tone of humanity and humor in the novel and I look forward to playing this role – something lighter than my recent projects but still closely observed and smart.”The sixth and final season of Better Call Saul premiered on April 18 and then returned for its final six episodes on Monday, July 11. The series finale is set to air Monday, Aug. 15 on AMC.