'Better Call Saul' season 4 trailer brings it closer to 'Breaking Bad' with Gus Fring taking center stage
The final episode of season 3 of 'Better Call Saul' aired over a year ago in June. Since then, fans have been eagerly waiting for showrunners Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould to provide some insight into season 4 to AMC's critically-acclaimed 'Breaking Bad' spin-off. The wait finally is over as a brief 15-second teaser was released by the show's official Twitter account yesterday providing a first look at the new mess our favorite criminal lawyer finds himself in this time around.
In typical AMC fashion, the teaser ensures it doesn't reveal any major plot points. Instead, it's stitched together with numerous scenes from the upcoming season, and initial impressions indicate that 'Better Call Saul' is heading very much in the direction of its supremely successful predecessor 'Breaking Bad' with enough blood, betrayal, and plenty of guns, drugs, and explosions to boot.
Keeping in mind the suggestive undertones in these teasers, the biggest takeaway for fans will be the relatively prolonged appearance of Los Pollos Hermanos and meth supremo Gus Fring, who drops an ominous line, "Now is not a good time."
Gilligan confirmed what we suspect many fans wanted to hear — that 'Better Call Saul' will indeed overlap with 'Breaking Bad' a lot more in the coming seasons, eventually building up towards Walter White's storyline and his rise as Albuquerque's most premium and in-demand meth cook.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gilligan said: "Season four is so good. It gets darker, it gets richer. It's still got funny in it, but on the Venn diagram of 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul', the overlap in the center is getting bigger and bigger."
The upcoming season will also feature an important new character, Gilligan revealed. "Here is a very important character — I’m not promising you ever saw this character, but there was a very important character nonetheless from the 'Breaking Ba'd era who we’re going to meet this year. You’re going to be impressed with him," he said.
Executive producer Melissa Bernstein has since confirmed that the character Gilligan was referring to is 'Lalo,' a person who has been named in 'Breaking Bad' — Lalo was mentioned in the first scene with Bob Odenkirk's Saul Goodman (previously Jimmy McGill) in the season 2 episode that was coincidentally titled 'Better Call Saul' — but has never appeared onscreen.
Season 3 ended with Jimmy's brother, Chuck (Michael McKean), setting his house on fire with him inside it. The plot synopsis for season 4 has since confirmed his death.
"In Better Call Saul‘s fourth season, Chuck’s death catalyzes Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman. In the wake of his loss, Jimmy takes steps into the criminal world that will put his future as a lawyer — and his relationship with Kim — in jeopardy. Chuck’s death deeply affects former colleagues Howard (Patrick Fabian) and Kim as well, putting the two of them once again on opposite sides of a battle sparked by the Brothers McGill."
Rhea Seehorn, who portrays Kim Wexler in the show, elaborated on how season 4 will explore the dynamic between her character and Jimmy. "What they did to Chuck, what Chuck did to himself, Chuck’s death, Jimmy’s reaction to it, what grief does to all of us... they have a huge impact," she said.
"If you’ve ever been the person that’s supporting someone who is grieving, that has an impact on a relationship," she continued, adding that Chuck "really still looms large, particularly over this season."
The airing date for season 4 has been confirmed as August 6, 2018, with the characters of Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), and Ignacio 'Nacho' Varga (Michael Mando) also set to play significant roles.