Better Call Saul’s sixth and final season has officially been given a release date by Netflix.
Like Money Heist and Ozark before it, the 13-episode climax will be split into two parts, with the first two entries arriving on April 19, 2022. The first half's next five episodes will arrive weekly after that, followed by a final run of six episodes beginning on July 12.
One of the best Netflix shows of the past decade, Better Call Saul has been, at various points in its seven-year-run, a spin-off, prequel and sequel to showrunner Vince Gilligan’s critically-acclaimed Breaking Bad series.
Mild spoilers for Better Call Saul follow.
The show follows the exploits of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill, charting the character’s rise (or fall) from diligent lawyer to morally-corrupt defense attorney Saul Goodman. Alongside Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito reprise their roles from Breaking Bad, with several other returnees – Dean Norris among them – making guest appearances at various points.
After experiencing a near-death experience in the previous season, Better Call Saul season 6 finds the titular crook but a shell of his usual self. Having reverted back to the unsure Jimmy McGill, Odenkirk’s character “is in a weak and uncertain and frightened place inside,” the actor told Deadline.
Given his role in Breaking Bad, it’s no secret that McGill makes it through whatever trauma lies ahead in season 6 – but how might the experience affect the character we know and (sometimes) love moving forward?
“He is an accessory to just awful, awful things, not just in the Walter White of it, but all the other things that he’s done,” co-creator Peter Gould told Deadline in the same interview. “I feel that he has a karmic burden. Does this guy earn a happy ending?”
As for who might join Odenkirk in Better Call Saul season 6, Gould has confirmed that neither Walter (Bryan Cranston) nor Jesse (Aaron Paul) will be making an appearance.
Still, we’ll almost certainly see more of Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), Nacho Varga (Micheal Mando) and Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton).
Analysis: Will Better Call Saul overshadow Breaking Bad?
Having gained momentum with every season since its 2015 debut, Better Call Saul is now considered a supreme example of how to successfully produce a serialised spin-off that matches (and occasionally surpasses) the quality of its predecessor.
Not every Breaking Bad fan returned for more content in this universe. But, as a series that Empire ranked at number 27 on its list of The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, Better Call Saul is an undeniably worthy successor to its trailblazing source material.
What’s more, Breaking Bad ended after just five seasons – with Better Call Saul season 6, this once-prequel show will exist as a spin-off in name only.
As for what others shows might fill the Bob Odenkirk-shaped hole in your life after Better Call Saul ends in July, Apple TV Plus' The Mosquito Coast and Netflix stablemate Ozark – which ends “later in 2022” – seem like good places to start.
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