This year, the critically-acclaimed drama series “Better Call Saul” is wrapping up its run with a sixth and final season. Speaking to Variety senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta, co-creator Peter Gould discussed the challenges of ending a series with so much fan anticipation as “Saul.”
“It’s horrible, you have a lot of weight on how things end,” Gould said. “I like to think that the ending for us is a series of episodes, rather than being a single episode or a moment. But it’s a lot of pressure, it’s a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of sweaty palms and armpits. I love what we did. I don’t know whether everyone else will love it, I really couldn’t say. But I think the thing that feels good is to know that we’re playing the same game that we started with.”
Gould was joined by fellow 2022 Emmy nominees and showrunners Dan Erickson, creator of “Severance,” Chris Mundy, writer and executive producer of “Ozark,” and Ashley Lyle, co-creator of “Yellowjackets,” for a Variety Virtual TV Fest panel. The four creators discussed the process of showrunning their series, all of which were nominated in the best drama category at the Emmys, and compared and contrasted launching a new show with ending an old one.
Like “Better Call Saul,” “Ozark” also wrapped up its run this year with a two-part final season. Mundy agreed with Gould that the process of closing a show is stress-inducing, and described the specific challenges of closing the page on “Ozark,’ which focuses on a group of morally grey people, and trying to find an ending fitting for a group of characters that didn’t make the most ethically sound decisions.
“I’m sure it would be a different debate for everybody about whether or not the Byrds [Jason Bateman and Laura Linney] got what they deserved and whether or not Ruth [Julia Garner] got what she deserved,” Mundy said. “The characters didn’t know who they were very well, and you go through all the crap we put them through for four-plus seasons, and they ought to know it. So I wanted to make sure that happened.”
Discussing the process of beginning a new show, Erickson talked about the development of the first season of science fiction thriller “Severance,” which racked up an impressive 14 nominations at the Emmys. According to Erickson, part of the challenge in creating a new world is you don’t truly know what the show will look like until you see what the actors and the crew bring.
“Creating a new world from scratch, as I’m sure any of us know, is very difficult,” Erickson said. “And you don’t really know the language of the show until you hear it reflected back at you via the actors and the production crew, and ultimately the viewers. I feel like they sort of have the final say on what this whole thing actually is, and what about it is resonant or meaningful.”
Lyle also faced the challenge of introducing a new batch of characters to audiences with “Yellowjackets,” the acclaimed Showtime series about a girls’ soccer team stranded in the wilderness. During the panel, Lyle talked about the stresses of being a first-time showrunner, and said part of what helped her during the difficult process was being part of a team of three working on the series.
“To some extent, it’s just about letting go and realizing that everything will get done eventually,” Lyle said. “And sometimes you’re just going to have to let something be what it is.”
Watch the full panel above.
