As the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed show, Better Call Saul, comes to a close; Vince Gilligan, creator of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, has announced that he has limited interest in continuing working on the Breaking Bad universe. While this may be sad news for many Breaking Bad fans, don’t give up just yet. The AMC has announced their intention to create a new series, Baking Bad, a story heavily modeled after the show Breaking Bad. Similar to Breaking Bad, the show will follow a down-on-his-luck home economics teacher as he enters the dangerous overground world of baking.
With Vince Gilligan out of this universe, AMC has moved to Chuck Lorre, famous for other shows such as The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. Lorre has taken up the position as Head Writer and Executive Producer, and when it comes to many of the important decisions made on the show, you can point Lorre as the mastermind behind it all. When asked for the direction he plans to take with the show, Lorre had this to say, “I think that our goal with Baking Bad is to create a fun show with quirky characters. I think that Breaking Bad the show really fails in a lot of ways, an average viewer will look at Walter White in that show and hate him, we need a charecter that will be loved by all. Our goal with Baking Bad is to create something like a Marvel movie, but for baking, and I think with our wonderful group of actors we have really achieved something incredible.”
Vince Gilligan seems to be extremely unhappy with this changes, stating that he will take every avenue possible to take down Baking Bad, going as far as to say he would strike out against this show with his words and his fists. Witnesses have captured Gilligan and Lorre engaging in a physical altercation in which Gilligan can be heard saying, “I’m going to kick your [redacted] so [redacted] that you [redacted].” Gilligan has tweeted this in response to the video:
Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, and others that worked with Gilligan on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have come out in support of Gilligan’s actions. Bryan Cranston was quoted saying, “My heart lies with Vince in this conflict, to see the show that I worked on for so long and put so much into simply disgustes me, and I cannot image the pain Vince is going through seeing this happen.”
Dean Norris tweeted this in response, which has been assumed to be tweeted in support of Cranston.
The AMC has yet to put a public statement out regarding the controversy, but they have released a cast list showing some of the star cast members of the show.
Responses to the cast list seemed to be mixed, even from the cast themselves. Adam Sandler has been very outspoken about his support and excitement for the show. James Cordan however, has expressed tremendous distaste for the image used to represent him in the cast list: “I thought I had moved on from the dark time in my life that was the Cats movie. I have images of that movie burned into my brain, I see them in my dreams. For the team behind Baking Bad to cause me to think about my living nightmare without consulting me is extremely upsetting,” he said while “promoting” the show on a late-night talkshow.
The online response to the cast list has also been very inconsistent. Some people seem to be very happy with the announcement of the show as seen in these tweets, even getting #bakingbad trending.
There has also been a lot of backlash to the show, with a lot of people siding with Vince Gilligan in the matter, as well as just general skepticism around the show’s quality level.
Needless to say Baking Bad has caused quite the stir, in terms of the public’s reaction. Many people are looking forward to Baking Bad, while others think it’s bound to be a groundflattening and critically ashamed show. No matter the response to Baking Bad, I’m sure many will tune in excitedly to see the first episode when it is released. The Baking Bad train has left the station and nothing will get in the way of its destiny of world-wide, overwhelming approval.