Across its run, Better Call Saul has more than lived up to the expectations set by its superb predecessor Breaking Bad – with some viewers even arguing that the prequel has now surpassed its sister show.
Across six seasons, viewers have watched as slippery but well-intentioned lawyer Jimmy McGill slowly transforms into the morally bankrupt Saul Goodman we know from Breaking Bad, with all sorts of dramatic moments and brilliant cameos along the way.
But it had to come to an end eventually, and after a perfectly pitched finale, the show has now wrapped up for good.
So, why won’t Better Call Saul be continuing for a seventh season? And are we likely to see any further spin-offs in the future? Read on for everything you need to know.
Why won’t there be a Better Call Saul season 7?
The answer as to why the series won’t be continuing beyond its recently concluded sixth run is fairly straightforward – the prequel has already caught up to the events of Breaking Bad, with Jimmy’s transformation into Saul now complete.
In fact, not only have the timelines of the two shows now merged, the final season of Better Call Saul also included a lengthy section exploring what happened to Jimmy/Saul after the events of Breaking Bad.
A few scenes showing him living as Gene Takovic, a Cinnabon manager in Omaha, Nebraska, had previously been teased at the start of each season, but the final run goes into far more detail about what happened to him.
Specifically, Jimmy’s story comes to a natural conclusion when he is finally apprehended by the authorities – and an unexpected reunion with Kim forces him to have a rare moment of introspection and confess to his various wrongdoings.
Any future seasons therefore wouldn’t really have anywhere to go – Jimmy is likely to be in prison for the foreseeable future and there is no more story to tell from before the days of Breaking Bad.
Will there be more Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul spin-offs?
Although Better Call Saul might have come to an end, this might not be the last we see of the world that Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have created.
In June of this year, Dan McDermott, the president of entertainment and AMC Studios at AMC Networks, explained that “the door is always open” for further spin-offs somewhere down the line.
“I can tell you that if I could do anything to encourage Vince and Peter to continue on in this universe, I would do it,” he said during an interview with Variety.
The showrunner has explained that while there are still numerous avenues that could be explored in future series, for now his focus is on creating something away from the Breaking Bad universe – claiming he doesn’t want there to be too much of a good thing.
“I can definitely imagine revisiting it,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “Selfishly, I’d like to do so, to keep this thing going.
“But without naming any names, I look around at some of the worlds, the universes, the stories that I love, whether they’re on TV or in the movies. And I think there’s a certain point, and it’s hard to define, where you’ve done too much in the same universe.
“And some universes are much bigger and more elastic. Ours is a very small one, Albuquerque, New Mexico, versus some of these worlds and series of movies and TV shows.”
He added: “Yes, I could do more with this universe, and maybe someday I will, especially if I fail at everything that comes next. Then I’ll come crawling back.
“But right now, whether there’s more room to grow or not — and there probably is — I feel like it’s time to do something new.”
The best way of looking at it, then, is that there’s still very much a possibility of further stories in this world – but it will likely be some time before we can dig back into the seedy Albuquerque criminal underworld once more.
All episodes of Better Call Saul are available on Netflix in the UK and via AMC in the US. Check out the best Netflix series and best Netflix movies to keep you entertained, or visit our TV guide for more to watch.
