‘Breaking Bad’ Prequel: Supporting Cast Announced For AMC’s ‘Better Call Saul’

Michael McKean will be joining the cast of AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” the much-awaited prequel of “Breaking Bad,” alongside series star Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks, the show’s creators announced during a Television Critics Association press-tour event Friday.

McKean, who may be best known for the film “This Is Spinal Tap,” will play Chuck, the brother of Saul Goodman, portrayed by Odenkirk, while Banks will reprise his role as “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut, according to AMC. Other cast members will include Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian and Michael Mando.

AMC said “Better Call Saul” is set six years before Odenkirk’s character, Saul, meets Walter White, who was played by Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad.”

The first season of the prequel, originally scheduled for November, has premiere in early 2015. It will consist of 10 episodes. The series has already been renewed for a second, 13-episode season.

Odenkirk’s character was introduced in “Breaking Bad” Season 2, and he is the lead in the prequel that explores his life from the roots.

Referring to the delay in the launch of the series, TV Guide quoted co-creator Vince Gilligan as saying: “I’m going to take full responsibility for this. We could have made the deadline, but ... I am slow as mud as a TV writer. I always have been.”

Gilligan, who masterminded “Breaking Bad” and co-created “Better Call Saul” with Peter Gould, said the idea of creating the new series is “a leap of faith or stupidity into the unknown.”

Meanwhile, Gould said of the series: “We’re trying to make something that stands on its own, that has an entertainment value that’s not just seeing a series of old favorites. It’s not the series equivalent of a clip show.”