Jonathan Banks signs on for Better Call Saul

Prepare yourselves for Mike Ehrmantraut.

Jonathan Banks, who played Mike in Breaking Bad, has signed on for the AMC prequel Better Call Saul. He will team up with Bob Odenkirk once again as a series regular. In Breaking Bad, Mike was the head of security for Gus Fring (aka, the meth kingpin of New Mexico) before joining forces with Walter and Jesse. He also worked for Saul Goodman (Odenkirk) on the side.

Banks previously earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Mike. The events of Better Call Saul will focus on the strip mall attorney's career prior to the events of Breaking Bad. No other previous characters have been confirmed just yet, but Vince Gilligan hinted that some others could pop up throughout the series.

Better Call Saul might be both past and future

AMC recently confirmed a Breaking Bad spin-off to be centered around Walt and Jesse's crooked lawyer, Saul Goodman. The series, to be titled Better Call Saul, was initially marketed and announced as a Breaking Bad prequel and set to premiere by summer or early fall 2014. However, the show might serve as both prequel and sequel.

We saw in the finale that Saul had taken the "out" with his contact and received a new identity and would be found in Nebraska. Bob Odenkirk had some information about the potential Better Call Saul has:

"Well, I’ve talked to Vince (Gilligan) and Peter (Gould), who are writing and creating the series, about this and I’ve said that a lot of people do want to see what happens to next to Saul. So, I don’t know what they’re going to do. I know they’ve talked about prequel, but they’ve also talked to me about sequel, and they’ve also talked to me about a mix of prequel and sequel."

I wouldn't be surprised to see the show venture a bit into the future. The way they left us with Jesse would be interesting to see.