Sunday night’s midseason finale of The Walking Dead Season 5 provided AMC with the perfect opportunity to show the world the first official Better Call Saul clip. As I fully expected, AMC took advantage of the Breaking Bad connection and tugged hard on the strings of nostalgia.
The roughly one-minute first Better Call Saul clip opens with Saul (Bob Odenkirk) pulling up to a ticket booth at a parking structure. There’s a problem with the ticket button and Saul, being the scummy lawyer he is, takes up an immediate complaint with the ticket booth operator.
That operator is none other than Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Saul’s former “cleaner” who worked under drug kingpin Gus Fring. As Better Call Saul is set six years prior to the events of Breaking Bad Season 1, Mike hasn’t quite transitioned to the private sector as of yet.
Whether this is truly the first meeting between Saul and Mike is inconsequential. What’s great is to see both of these beloved characters on the screen again, complete with Saul’s sarcasm and Mike’s signature eye rolls. Bringing back Banks as Mike in a series regular role was the best move creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould could have made.
AMC recently announced the Better Call Saul premiere is a two-night event that will piggyback off The Walking Dead Season 5 midseason premiere on Sunday, February 8 at 10/9c, while The Talking Dead temporarily shifts back an hour. The second part of Better Call Saul premiere is the following Monday night in the same time slot, and subsequent episodes will also premiere on Monday nights.
Watch the Better Call Saul footage premiere below, and look out for the first Better Call Saul trailer in the weeks ahead.
