Mike Ehrmantraut is coming back from the dead! Well, kind of….
Jonathan Banks has officially signed on to star in Better Call Saul—the Breaking Bad spinoff which will follow the antics of Bob Odenkirk as the morally questionable (and did we mention hilarious?), New Mexico-based attorney Saul Goodman. Banks will be reprising his fan favorite role as Mike, becoming a series regular on the highly anticipated new drama from creator Vince Gilligan and writer/producer Peter Gould, Deadline reports.
The series, which is set to debut this November, follows the evolution of Saul before he ever became Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) lawyer. With Banks officially on the show, this means that Saul has had his trusted private investigator/fixer Mike by his side for much longer than fans originally thought.
Although the upcoming show is considered a prequel, the spinoff will also most likely include some of Breaking Bad's signature time jump tactics. "We think, by and large, this show will be a prequel, but the wonderful thing about the fractured chronology we employed on Breaking Bad for many years is the audience will not be thrown by us jumping around in time," Gilligan told Entertainment Weekly. "So it's possible that we may indeed do that, and we'll see the past and perhaps the future."
In Breaking Bad, Banks' character Mike worked as the Head of Corporate Security at Los Pollos Hermano and enforcer in Gustavo Fring's crystal meth operation. He later joined Jesse and Walt in their operations and continued to work with the duo until halfway through the series' fifth season. Mike's journey on the AMC hit ended in a shocking and unexpected twist: Just as he was thisclose to getting out of the drug business, Walt shot Mike and left him to die in the middle of the desert. It was devastating blow for many fans.
So far, Banks and Odenkirk are the only actors officially named for Better Call Saul, however both Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston have expressed interest in popping up in the spinoff. Hopefully the creators will find a way to incorporate as many Breaking Bad cameos as possible because we're still having major withdrawals for our favorite drug-dealing characters.
Deadline was the first to report this news.