'Better Call Saul' Season 4 Is 'So Close' To 'Breaking Bad', According To Bob Odenkirk

Better Call Saul season 4 is about to premiere, which means it's time for everyone's favorite question: how many Breaking Bad references will pop up this time? As the show gets closer and closer to the Bad timeline, more and more characters and elements from the show appear in Saul. And according to star Bob Odenkirk, season 4 is very close to Breaking Bad.

Let me preface this was a minor quibble. Every time a new season of Better Call Saul starts, all anyone wants to talk about is Breaking Bad. I get that – Breaking Bad was the impetus of this show, and Saul is a Bad prequel, after all. But it bugs me, because Better Call Saul has evolved into its own unique show. What I'm saying is I wish more people would let Saul stand on its own merits, without wondering when Walter White might show up in the background of a scene.

But I guess I'm an outlier here, because the press tour for Better Call Saul season 4 has been loaded with Breaking Bad questions. Variety has a new interview with star Bob Odenkirk, and the actor is flat-out asked how close this season gets to Breaking Bad. Odenkirk is nice enough to offer a real answer instead of dancing around the issue:

"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. The plots with Mike and Gus and Hector, the "Breaking Bad" world is assembled very closely, almost at the end of the season four. There's a little bit of time there to go."

Better Call Saul remains one of the best shows around, and this season will bring Jimmy McGill even closer to becoming Saul Goodman. But I'm personally in no rush for that to happen, because I want this show to last as long as it possibly can.

Odenkirk goes on to add that when the show does catch up to Breaking Bad, he'd still like to find a way for the story to continue on. Primarily by focusing on "Gene", the new identity Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman has assumed following the events of Breaking Bad. "Maybe with the story of Gene, if they could make more out of his story, which I'd like to see," the actor says. "I feel like they've told the story of a person of Walter white degrading into the worst part of himself. And I wonder if there's a story they can tell of a person who does that and survives and maybe puts a better version of himself together with the remnants."

Season 4 will reveal more Bad connections – characters and references alike. But if you're hoping Walter White and Jesse Pinkman might show up this year, you're going to be disappointed. During the Better Call Saul panel at Comic-Con, co-creator Vince Gilligan flat-out confirmed that neither of Breaking Bad's main characters would be making an appearance in season 4. That doesn't mean they won't pop up in season 5, though.

Better Call Saul season 4 premieres on August 6, 2018 on AMC.