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'Better Call Saul' creators tease 'darker' new season, more 'Breaking Bad' visitors

NEW YORK — The future is (finally) catching up with Jimmy McGill.

In the upcoming fourth season of AMC's "Better Call Saul" (due Aug. 6), the slippery lawyer will move further toward his transformation into corrupt con man Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad." At a panel Wednesday with members of the "Saul" cast and creative team, "Bad" creator Vince Gilligan teased more criminal drama and familiar faces in the new episodes.

"Season 4 is so good," said Gilligan, who conceived of "Saul," with executive producer Peter Gould, as a "Bad" prequel. "It gets darker, it gets richer. It's still got funny in it, but on the Venn diagram of 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul,' the overlap in the center is getting bigger and bigger."

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He also hinted that more characters from the "Bad" universe will enter Jimmy's orbit as "Saul" catches up to the events of the Emmy-winning drama, which starred Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn. All three have yet to appear on "Saul," which features "Bad" veterans Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut) and Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring) as series regulars.

"There's a very important character from the 'Breaking Bad' era that we're going to meet this year," Gilligan said, without specifying which.

When "Saul" left off at the end of Season 3 last June, Jimmy's ailing brother Chuck (Michael McKean) set his house on fire and killed himself. The new season will explore Jimmy's complicated grief over his estranged sibling, with the support of his lawyer girlfriend Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn).

Chuck "still looms large," said executive producer Melissa Bernstein. "We're going to see Chuck and we're going to feel him even when we're not seeing him. He has such a profound effect on Jimmy and thus, Saul."