Even though Better Call Saul is coming to an end this year, Bob Odenkirk won’t be saying goodbye to AMC any time soon.
The cable network and its streaming platform AMC+ will launch Straight Man, a series based on Richard Russo’s novel of the same name. Odenkirk will be the lead, in the actor’s third series with the network.
Odenkirk will star as William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television.
In a press release, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks Dan McDermott shared his excitement about the new series:
“The saying goes ‘the third times a charm,’ but when it comes to Bob Odenkirk on AMC, the first and second times were about as charming, captivating and viscerally entertaining as it gets. As Better Call Saul begins its epic sixth and final season, we could not be more excited by the prospect of keeping Bob at home on AMC and watching him breathe life into another nuanced, complicated and unforgettable character.”
The project comes from Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, who are adapting the book and will serve as co-showrunners. Sony Pictures’ Television TriStar TV and Mark Johnson’s Gran Via, which is behind Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, are producing. Zelman, Lieberstein, Odenkirk, Peter Farrelly, who is on board to direct, Richard Russo, Naomi Odenkirk and Marc Provissiero are executive producers.
The first season of Straight Man will be eight one-hour episodes and will premiere in 2023. While you wait for Straight Man to come to your screens, catch up on our coverage of Better Call Saul here.
