Vince Gilligan admits Better Call Saul 'may have been a mistake'

Breaking Bad prequel starts shooting this week

Gilligan says a lot of hard work is going into the show (Picture: AMC)

(AMC/ Ursula Coyote)

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is clearly feeling the weight of expectation over prequel show Better Call Saul, saying this week that he "worried" that continuing the BB universe "may turn out to be a mistake".

Gilligan wasn't his usual chirpy self during a round table interview with The Hollywood Reporter, admitting that production is already a week behind and discussing the patchy history of past TV spin-offs.

Asked whether he thought the show will be a hit, the showrunner referenced the shows spawned by M*A*S*H and Cheers as he replied: "If it’s After M*A*SH [which flopped] rather than Frasier [which was a big hit], it won’t be for lack of hard work and wishful thinking and a lot of smart people doing their best, but you just don’t know until the world takes it.

“I am worried that … it may turn out that this was a mistake," he added.

His concerns are understandable though, such is the pressure of following up a TV series hailed as one of the best of all time, and it may be that he isn't having a massive crisis over it but is simply trying to manage expectations.

I for one feel confident he and co-writer Peter Gould will put out a strong show, even if it can't match Breaking Bad's brilliance (or struggles to make Saul as funny as a protagonist as it did a peripheral character).

Filming on the AMC show got underway on Monday, with a picture surfacing online of the crew shooting at an Albuquerque skate park.