Seehorn’s return will be welcome news for Better Call Saul fans, considering that many felt she was snubbed at the Emmys after failing to take home Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Kim Wexler. 

While the Emmys may not recognise Seehorn’s talent, Gilligan certainly does: he’s positioned her as the show’s heroic lead, which is a departure from Gilligan’s comfort zone of compelling and sympathetic anti-heroes. 

“After 15 years, I figured it was time to take a break from writing antiheroes… and who’s more heroic than the brilliant Rhea Seehorn?” Gilligan said in a statement.

“It’s long past time she had her own show, and I feel lucky to get to work on it with her.”

Gilligan’s desire to branch out and explore a character with a more righteous alignment shows he’s not content to rest on his laurels. It’s a far cry from the characters he’s used to writing, but Gilligan seems ready to tackle the challenge. 

After the success of Walter White and Saul Goodman, who had their own villainous tendencies that fans still couldn’t help but root for, it will be interesting if Gilligan can create another fan favourite character. Though, there may be a lack of meth cooking and cartel lawyers this time around. 

Gilligan is notoriously tight-lipped about upcoming shows, but he has previously revealed to Deadline that the new series draws upon his experience as the producer, writer, and director of the classic sci-fi drama, The X-Files. Like The X-Files, the new show reportedly explores, “the human condition,” and, “similar themes of bending reality while holding a mirror to humanity.”

Though the news of Gilligan’s new series is exciting, it has left fans wondering if he’ll ever create something in the Breaking Bad universe again. At AMC’s virtual Television Critics Association panel in August, Gilligan made a devastating announcement.

“You can’t keep putting all your money on red 21. I feel like we probably pushed it doing a spinoff to Breaking Bad [but] I could not be more happy with the results,” he said. “Then I did El Camino and I’m very proud of that too. But I think I’m starting to sense you’ve got to know when to leave the party, you don’t want to be the guy with a lampshade on your head.”

“I don’t have any plans right now to do anything more in this universe. I know I probably gave the same answer at the end of Breaking Bad. I gotta prove to myself that I got something else in me. I’m not a one-trick pony, that’s what I’m hoping.”

It’s disappointing that Gilligan doesn’t have any plans to return to the Breaking Bad universe, but the knowledge that more of his work is forthcoming, albeit with a different story and focus, soothes that pain.

Who knows? One day, he might decide to take a trip back to Albuquerque, and we may just see some familiar faces again.