The wild tale of a high school chemistry teacher that becomes a meth manufacturer captured audiences and led to strong ratings for AMC Networks Inc AMCX.
A prequel series to “Breaking Bad” has struggled in recent seasons: Could the return of the two stars from “Breaking Bad” provide a boost in the final season?
What Happened: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul who portrayed Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, respectively, in “Breaking Bad” are set to return with appearances in the final and sixth season of “Better Call Saul.”
The prequel show stars Bob Odenkirk as a lawyer who eventually represents White.
“I personally feel that the two shows — ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’ — are entwined even more than ever in the final season. And it’s gonna make you want to watch ‘Breaking Bad’ again,” Odenkirk told Variety.
“Better Call Saul” co-creator Peter Gould confirmed officially that Cranston and Paul will be featured in the final season.
“I don’t want to spoil things for the audience, but I will say the first question we had when we started the show was, ‘Are we gonna see Walt and Jesse on the show?’ Instead of evading, I’ll just say yeah,” Gould told an audience at a Variety event.
The sixth season of “Better Call Saul” premieres on April 18 with the 13 episodes that will be split into two parts. The second part of the final season will premiere on July 11. Episodes will air on AMC, AMC+ and also stream on Netflix Inc NFLX in several international territories.
Related Link: AMC Keeps On Raising The Dead, New 'The Walking Dead' Spinoff Continues Network's Successful Franchise
Why It’s Important: AMC Networks had two of the highest-rated cable shows of all time with “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad.” AMC has seen success with “Better Call Saul” and also has greenlit several spinoffs to “The Walking Dead,” which is ending after its current 11th season.
“Breaking Bad” saw its first few seasons turn in around one million viewers per episode. A streaming deal with Netflix helped boost awareness of the show and led to stronger viewership in later seasons.
The fifth and final season of “Breaking Bad” saw viewership hit the five to six million per episode range, a sharp increase from the 1.9 million that tuned in for the season four finale.
The series finale of “Breaking Bad” had a huge 10.3 million viewers and a 5.2 rating among adults aged 18 to 49. AMC charged $400,000 for each 30-second commercial during the finale, which was on par with network shows from Walt Disney Co.’s DIS ABC and Fox Corp.'s FOXFOXA Fox channel.
The fifth season of “Better Call Saul” averaged 1.37 million viewers with the premiere and finale both seeing around 1.6 million viewers. Viewership has dropped as the show has continued on AMC.
The 2015 premiere of “Better Call Saul” set a cable record with 6.9 million viewers, the most for the premiere of an original series.
The return of the two main characters from the original series could provide a much-needed boost to ratings for AMC and could lead to the network being able to command more in advertising revenue.
Photo: AMC "Better Call Saul" Twitter
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