Better Call Saul season 5: Everything you need to know

From Digital Spy

Note: Contains spoilers for Better Call Saul.

Even before season four launched, Better Call Saul had been renewed for a fifth instalment by AMC.

The Breaking Bad prequel has been charting the life of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) before his transformation into the Saul Goodman we all know and love.

We've yet to see him fully embrace that character, but Odenkirk thinks that season four ended with him closer to his Breaking Bad persona than ever before.

"I think he's there. I'm not sure that Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan feel this way, but I do," Odenkirk confirmed after the season-four finale aired. "I feel that in his heart and in his mind he's there. He's Saul. He just needs to get the office and come up with the idea that, 'Who will be beneficiary of these particular skills? Who would value them the most?'

"I don't think it's a long journey to drug dealers and scumbags are gonna appreciate how fast and loose I play with the truth. They're gonna marvel at it and appreciate it and not in any way have any issue with being a con-job lawyer.

"Whereas, a law firm or, let's say a banker, a banking firm, or some respectable member of society, they would be less apt to want that kind of lawyer representing them 'cause they have a certain status in the social scene that they wanna maintain."

So, could the big shift happen in season five?

Whatever happens, the audience will be rewarded for their loyalty to the show.

Speaking about what fans should expect to Deadline, the actor said: "It's the best season we've ever done, it's going to blow your mind, and I'm not kidding about either of those things.

"I's f**king awesome. I can't wait for people to see it. It's just shattering in every direction, and I love it. Season five is just everything's on fire, and it's just burning down around us.

"That's similar to Breaking Bad, too. This very slow buildup as we go up the roller-coaster ramp and then, it starts going downhill, it just cannot stop. And that's where we are in season five, which we're shooting right now."

"The audience really impressed the hell out of me," he said. "But I do think that it was all because of Breaking Bad and not just because of the success of Breaking Bad, but because people who watched Breaking Bad knew that every detail matters, the eye floating in the water, it means something.

"And so by getting a large audience to watch on that level, then when Better Call Saul started, they immediately were hooked into watching closely and not worrying about it getting somewhere but trusting that it would."

Here's everything you need to know about season five.

Better Call Saul season 5 release date: When can we expect it?

The fifth chapter will land on AMC in the US on Sunday, February 23.

It should have arrived earlier, but AMC's president of entertainment networks Sarah Barnett said that "talent needs" forced it to be pushed back, and overriding those requests would have resulted "in a worse show".

In the UK, it airs on Netflix, with new episodes available the day after arriving in the US.

Better Call Saul season 5 cast: Who's coming back?

Given the crossover between the two shows, we can guarantee that Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will be back given that they're alive when we first met them in Breaking Bad.

Other possibilities for season five include fellow Breaking Bad characters Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Laura Fraser), Huell Babineaux (Lavell Crawford), Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) and the terrifying cousins Leonel and Marco Salamanca (Daniel and Luis Moncada).

Even before we saw it, we knew that Ignacio 'Nacho' Varga (Michael Mando) would survive season four, given that he's mentioned by Saul in Breaking Bad.

And while we definitely didn't see them in season four, creator Vince Gilligan has hinted that we'll see Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) on the show before it ends, so maybe that will be in season five? "We would be sorely remiss if these characters didn't appear on the show before it ended," he explained.

Jesse Pinkman would seem to be the most logical candidate for a cool cameo, but don’t get your hopes up. Aaron Paul doesn't see that happening now that El Camino's given the character such a fantastic farewell.

"[El Camino] is a goodbye," he told Digital Spy and other media. "This was a proper send-off that people just kept asking for.

"I thought maybe I would play him in Better Call Saul. I'm such a big fan of that show. But in the recent seasons, in the flash-forwards, especially now knowing where Jesse is, there’s just no reason for him to be at that place and at that time. I can't imagine him showing up in Better Call Saul."

Never say never though.

"If [creator Vince Gilligan] calls and asks me to, then I know there's a very good reason that he’s there," he added.

A potentially unexpected Breaking Bad cameo could come in the form of Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). "These guys seem to have a healthy dislike for each other the first time they're on camera together, yeah," Gilligan said, with Odenkirk teasing: "Something bad happened. Maybe we'll find out what it is!"

Better Call Saul season 5 spoilers: Will we get a Breaking Bad crossover?

Before the end of Better Call Saul, we'll have to see the final transformation of Jimmy into Breaking Bad's Saul. The prequel show to date has featured crossover characters like Gus, but season four finally saw the show featuring scenes set during Breaking Bad's era.

"We have a subplot that very squarely gets into Breaking Bad territory and brings us into the world – or at least points us on a path toward the world of Walter White and the territory of Walter White," Gilligan outlined before season four aired. "I can't wait for folks to see that."

Gilligan has revealed though that there's no current timeline in place for when the show will catch up to Walt, Jesse and co. "[We take things] very much season by season. And I'm less involved than I used to be," he explained. "We really don't know where it's all going."

However, Odenkirk has since revealed that we could be getting a full-on Breaking Bad crossover in season five.

"It's coming around and it's so close that it's the next thing to happen. It's so close that you can see it's right there at the end of the season essentially, but it takes up more time," he noted. "The Breaking Bad world is assembled very closely, almost at the end of season four. There's a little bit of time there to go."

The end is definitely in sight, says Odenkirk, who believes that the series could end at season six.

"I'd like to find out what happens to Gene, the character he is after Better Call Saul, after Breaking Bad," Odenkirk said after season four. "But I feel like the way these guys tell a story, I feel like [there are] maybe two seasons [more to come]. Maybe.

"I also like when the story speeds up. I respect how good they are at picking things apart and slowing them down but I like when things go a little faster, so for me, I feel like two seasons would be the outside of it."

So basically it seems that if AMC decides season five is the end of the prequel show, then we'll get the crossover, but if there's a season six, we might be waiting even longer for that crossover.

Chatting about when he thinks the show could end, Esposito (Gus) told Collider: "It's tricky with [Vince Gilligan, co-creator], if you look at the Breaking Bad model, he said five years, five seasons, but it was really five and six.

"There will be six seasons [for Better Call Saul]. It seems like that's the way, the comfortable way, to end this show."

Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim Wexler, told TV Guide: "Peter and Vince have said things like, 'Wouldn't it be fun if this had the same number of episodes as Breaking Bad?' But they said that with a grin, because I think sentimentally it's sweet to them to bookend [the shows] that way.

"They know, generally, the story. They obviously know the ending because it's Breaking Bad. I don't think they're set on: How many episodes does it take to tell that story?"

But according to The Hollywood Reporter's sources, that decision hasn't been made yet.

Better Call Saul season 5 trailer: When can we see it?

While we don't yet have a full length trailer, we have been given a sneak peek of what to expect, including some behind the scenes footage.

Watch it below.

And in case you wanted to know how to tie a tie like a pro, Saul is here to help.

Better Call Saul airs on AMC in the US and Netflix in the UK.

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