'Better Call Saul' Extended Trailer and 'Bad' Connections

‘Breaking Bad’ fans aren’t yet sure what to make of prequel spinoff ‘Better Call Saul,’ which finds Walter White’s sleazy lawyer struggling nearly a decade earlier under the name Jimmy McGill. Now, a brand-new full-length trailer should help entice fans for the new series, as well as all the ‘Breaking Bad’ details from the horse’s mouth at the TCA press tour.

In addition to showing the down-on-his-luck Jimmy build up that ol’ Saul bravado, the new two-minute spot for ‘Better Call Saul’ introduces us to most of the supporting characters, including Jonathan Banks’ parking attendant Mike Ehrmantraut as well. Not only that, but Michael McKean’s presence as Saul’s brother Chuck reveals that the sickly man once operated as a laywer himself, leading Saul/Jimmy to step up and demand a share from Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill.

Still, with many a fan curious about the show’s overt connections to ‘Breaking Bad,’ creator Vince Gilligan and cast popped by the TCA press tour to clear up a few details. for one, while no major ‘Breaking Bad’ characters are expected to pop up in the first season (Gilligan noted that Jesse would be in high school at the earliest), the story still remains in Albuquerque, and will feel tonally different with a different visual palette, and less handheld camera work than the series’ predecessor.

The flow of time is also expected to be a bit less rigid with ‘Better Call Saul’ (no Walter White’s cancer to keep a ticking clock), while Gilligan said of other ‘Breaking Bad’ connections and characters:

The sky to be the limit, in the sense that all the characters who are deceased when ‘Breaking Bad’ ends could theoretically show up…We want this to really stand on its own. We don’t want to mislead people into expecting something that’s not going to happen… Having said that, everything else is on the table.

Premiering over two nights on February 8 and 9 and already renewed for a second season, here’s how AMC describes ‘Better Call Saul’:

The series is set six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. When we meet him, the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut, a beloved character introduced in ‘Breaking Bad.’ The series will track Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “Criminal lawyer.” The series’ tone is dramatic, woven with dark humor.

In addition to Jonathan Banks returning as Mike Ehrmantraut, ‘Better Call Saul’ features Michael McKean as Saul/Jimmy McGill’s brother Chuck, ‘The Last Exorcism’ star Patrick Fabian as “Kennedy-type” white-shoe law firm lawyer Howard Hamlin, Rhea Seehorn as fellow lawyer Kim Wexler, and ‘Orphan Black”s Michael Mando as career criminal Nacho Varga. Robert Forster claims his “Disappearer” character will return, and Dean Norris seems continually uncertain on the idea of a cameo appearance.

Take a look at the latest ‘Better Call Saul’ trailer above, and tell us in the comments what you think of ‘Breaking Bad’’s prequel spinoff!