Why Bob Odenkirk Never Watched ‘Breaking Bad,’ And How ‘Better Call Saul’ Has Changed Since Its Inception

Better Call Saul, the highly anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff, is mere months away from its February premiere, and there is still much in the air regarding the overall tone and style of the upcoming series. More importantly… how is the series in terms of quality?

“I haven’t seen a frame of it,” Bob Odenkirk, one of the stars of Breaking Bad, as well as the lead of Better Call Saul, told The Hollywood Reporter. This isn’t, however, anything to do with the quality of the show, but a way to keep his acting pure and unimpeded by his own knowledge of what is going on in the story.

“I really don’t want to know what’s coming later and I don’t look back at what came before. I think it’s a perfectly good way to approach acting to not know what the f**k is going on.”

Makes perfect sense, especially since Saul Goodman would often only get bits and pieces of the story to work with at a time, though it isn’t a method every actor is on board with. One example Odenkirk tells is when he and Bryan Cranston were filming a scene in the third season on the set of Breaking Bad. The script called Saul to dislike a certain character, while Odenkirk went about treating that character more as a friend. Cranston called him out on the error.

“That guy’s not your friend, don’t say it like that. You don’t watch the show, do you?”

Though, while this acting method has its weaknesses, it is still something Odenkirk has decided to employ on the set of Better Call Saul.

But that isn’t all the star had to say about the new spinoff series. With Saul’s portions of Breaking Bad providing much of the comedic relief to the series, it seemed natural to assume it would be mostly comedic in nature–in fact, that’s exactly what show runner Vince Gilligan had mentioned in the past (via Rolling Stone). He even specifically mentioned going with a 75 percent comedy to 25 percent drama ratio, which is the reverse ratio of the one that was utilized in Breaking Bad.

According to Odenkirk, however, that won’t be the case.

“It’s total drama, man. It’s 85 percent drama, 15 percent comedy.”

A definite turn from what Vince Gilligan had initially planned, but Breaking Bad fans are likely giving off a huge sigh of relief knowing they may get more of what they love from a fantastic drama show runner.

Does this make you more excited for Better Call Saul or were you looking more forward to something completely different from Vince Gilligan and company? Let us know in the comments below!