Slant Magazine

Slant: I've read that you had initially conceived of Breaking Bad as running for four seasons. Are you rethinking that now?

VG: Well, not really rethinking it so much as I don't know where we stand right now. We're off to a good start for season three, we have good viewership, we have good Nielsen numbers, and hopefully that trend will continue. And if it does, it's much more likely we'll get a season four, but as you and I speak here today, we don't have a pickup yet. I just don't know if we will be offered a fourth season. And conversely, if we start to do really, really well in season three I don't know if the golden handcuffs will snap on my wrists, and I'll be cajoled into trying to do five or six or seven seasons at this point. But it is a question I think about every day. I ask myself, "How long can Walt's story go on? How long can we keep this going? And should we?" There's no satisfactory answer right now, at least in my own mind.

When season three ends, it will end with a big, dramatic moment, just like season two ended. And it will end with a reason to continue watching beyond season three. Knock on wood—we will go beyond season three. But it really is like most television shows in that sense that you build toward a cliffhanger and you hope that if the worst case scenario comes to pass and that is your last season, you hope that it will be an interesting enough ending for a television series. We've got some crazy stuff coming this season. I think if you've liked us in the past, you will continue to. I think we take it some pretty dark and interesting places this season.

Slant: Speaking of dark and interesting, will we be seeing more of Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman this season? Was it your decision to cast him?

VG: He's much more front and center in season three, so you're going to see a lot more Saul Goodman this season. He's a wonderful guy. I think it was my idea to hire him, but it might have been one of my writers. The funny thing that happens in a writers' room is that when you spend enough time together, you really do form a group mind. And that's a good thing, because you kind of forget whose idea was whose at a certain point. They're just community property and they all belong to the show. I can tell you that I've always loved Bob Odenkirk's work, dating back to Mr. Show that he and David Cross did back in the early '90s. When I invited Bob Odenkirk to play Saul Goodman I was very excited, and when he said yes he would do it, I was over the moon because he is one of the funniest guys around, and a very talented actor to boot. As season three progresses, you'll see a few other dimensions to Saul Goodman; he's not just a goofy character, there's going to be more to him this season.

Slant: I've read that Will Farrell is interested in doing your screenplay 2-Face. Is it going to redeem him of his many sins against popular culture?

VG: [Laughs] You know, 2-Face is a script I wrote in 1991. When I think of how long ago that was, it just blows my mind. And Mark Johnson, who is my executive producer on Breaking Bad and who has been my mentor in the business ever since I first met him in 1989, has been trying to get 2-Face produced now for 20 years, and yeah, the most current actor interested in it is indeed Will Farrell. I don't know, honestly, where it stands. We had some meetings about a year and a half ago with Will Farrell and his manager. I think he'd be quite good in it, but I honestly don't know where it stands. I've had my heart broken with 2-Face for 20 years now. I've had so many directors and so many actors sort of pass by and show a big flurry of interest and then the heat dies down and they go away, and then somebody else comes along. [Laughs] It's been a wild ride. I don't see it [happening] in the near future, but maybe in the next few years we can get it going.

Slant: Do you have any projects that are a little closer to being realized, then?

VG: No, not really. I wish I were a J.J. Abrams-type of producer who had a lot of different things going at once, but I give my heart and soul to Breaking Bad and it is all that I do, and all that I've been doing now for two, three [years]. It's the only way I know how to work. I have to be there front and center and weighing in on every decision, whether it's wardrobe or giving an opinion on the timing in the finished episode. Anything and everything I want to have a hand in because I guess I'm kind of a control freak, and because I love this job so much. I love this world we've created so much that I want to be not just a part of it, but front and center in the creation of it. Breaking Bad is going to leave a big hole for me, personally. [Laughs] So I'm hoping it goes for at least for a while longer.

Slant: Well, I'm glad that you're not J.J. Abrams.