Bob Odenkirk may be saying goodbye to Saul Goodman, but he’s not done just yet.
AMC has greenlit and fast-tracked a new series, “Straight Man,” starring Odenkirk to premiere next year, the network announced Wednesday. He played fan favorite Goodman in “Breaking Bad” before starring as the protagonist of its spin-off “Better Call Saul.”
Based on the novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, “Straight Man” is “a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt,” according to the logline.
Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein will serve as co-showrunners and Peter Farrelly has signed on to direct.
“I loved Paul and Aaron’s take on Richard’s excellent, entertaining novel,” Odenkirk said in a statement.
“Once again a project with AMC with a focus on character depth and sensitivity. This milieu (academia) seems very pertinent to the conversations we’re all having. I am drawn to the tone of humanity and humor in the novel and I look forward to playing this role — something lighter than my recent projects but still closely observed and smart.”
This marks Odenkirk’s third straight show at AMC, following “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” which begins its sixth and final season on April 18. It’s also the 59-year-old actor’s first new project since he suffered a heart attack while filming in New Mexico in July.
“Straight Man” joins a growing list of AMC shows set for 2023, including the newly announced “Orphan Black” sequel series “Echoes,” “The Driver,” starring “Breaking Bad” alum Giancarlo Esposito, two “Walking Dead” spinoffs, “Demascus,” about an “ordinary Black man who who goes on a journey of self-discovery using an innovative new technology that allows him to experience different versions of his own life,” and “Invitation to a Bonfire,” a psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey.
———
