Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan who was under contract with Sony Pictures TV is now a free agent. Upon concluding his split fifth season of the AMC drama, the creator is now a sought-after novelty show-runner in the business.
“They’re foaming at the mouth,” says one source, noting that it’s like nothing this person has seen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite studios’ obsession of obtaining Gilligan, Breaking Bad has not been a knock-out in terms of ratings, averaging fewer than 3 million viewers for the most recent fifth season, also its most watched, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The show’s following combined with 13 Emmy nominations (the most a series has received) is what makes studios salivate for Gilligan’s creativity and direction behind the Bryan Cranston meth drama.
It is predicted that Gilligan will either remain with Sony, try out the deep-pocketed Warner Bros., or look to do a film, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The show-runner directed two consecutive episodes of Breaking Bad during shooting for the fourth season as a way to prepare himself for a film. “Directing two hours of the show back-to-back and cross-boarding and block-shooting them seemed to me a pretty good dry run for doing a movie when this is all said and done,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2012.
A Breaking Bad spin-off focused on Bob Odenkirk’s character Saul Goodman is being discussed. It would simplify things for Gilligan if he stayed with Sony to executive produce the show (though Breaking Bad writer Peter Gould would be the show-runner.) “I really hope it happens,” Gilligan said recently. “It’s for powers bigger than me to figure out if it can come to fruition.”