Viewers are days away from the watching the final episode of “Better Call Saul,” and executive producers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould told TV critics they have high hopes for how the last episode will be received.
“If we don’t win the Nobel Prize for this I’m gonna be very disappointed,” Gilligan told reporters with a smile Wednesday afternoon during a virtual panel for the show at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour.
Gould, who wrote and directed the episode, said there was “a lot of pressure” with that episode of the AMC series.
“It’s very scary. Lot of sweaty palms, a lot of sleepless nights. And yeah, I mean, I think when you say who are we going to please, I think we know. I think those of us on the show are very happy with where it ended,” he said. “I hope, hope, hope everybody else agrees because I think the thing that I’m most proud of is I think the show – it’s true to itself. And we’re playing in the same court that we started with. And I think that’s an accomplishment. But whether people find in it all their dreams and hopes, all we can do is hope. But, [a] Nobel Prize would be great …
“Because it’s got cash attached to It,” he added jokingly. “It’s not just a trophy.”
“Better Call Saul,” which has followed Jimmy McGill becoming Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) since the show began as a “Breaking Bad” spinoff in 2015, comes to its end Aug. 15 on AMC. During the panel, Gilligan, who was working on episode 12, when Gould was writing and starting to direct episode 13 said he can’t wait for people to watch.
“I’m so proud of it,” Gilligan said. “Peter did a fantastic job.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by series star Odenkirk, who was also on Wednesday’s TCA panel.
“I’m not stressed out and I haven’t been since I read it,” Odenkirk shared. “Because you [Gould] and the writers found a way to deliver on the heart of the show. And I think the other reason I’m not stressed out is over the course of six years I feel like the audience has been amazing, just amazing, and they’re dialed in to what this show is about. And, you know, ‘Breaking Bad’ is such a huge monster show, and it is a cornerstone of really television, and so I was always concerned about that show casting the wrong dimension onto our show as we found our feet, but I don’t think it’s happened. I think we’ve been allowed to find our own place to live and our own, you know, what matters to this show and the place this show lives and I think this ending goes right to the heart to where this show found itself.”