Better Call Saul casts Michael McKean as rival lawyer

Actor will play attorney with 'unusual affliction'

Michael McKean has featured in Homeland and Curb Your Enthusiasm (Getty)

Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul has landed its first new cast member, according to reports, with This Is Spinal Tap actor Michael McKean joining the AMC show.

The actor will play Dr. Thurber, Deadline claims, a 'brilliant attorney who is now restricted by an unusual affliction'.

The new character could serve as a rival to Saul, or possibly a boss depending on how far before Breaking Bad the series is set.

McKean should be a good fit for the dark comedy, having delivered very deadpan humour in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He will join Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) and Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut) on the show, while Aaron Paul has expressed interest in somehow reprising his role of Jesse Pinkman.

Bob Odenkirk is back to play Saul Goodman once more (AMC/ Ursula Coyote)

Dean Norris has put paid to a return for Hank Schrader however, recently saying he is "not a big fan of kind of revisiting something that has already been done. But I think it’s going to be awesome. So I can’t wait to see it."

Better Call Saul is expected to debut on AMC in November and will be broadcast through Netflix in the UK.

Read more: The Spanish-language version of Saul Goodman has inexplicably divine hair