With Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk has become a mainstay at AMC. Previously best known for HBO's subversive sketch comedy series, Mr. Show with Bob and David, the veteran funnyman and seasoned comedy writer/director soon proved himself to be a versatile and commanding dramatic actor, resulting in standout supporting turns in Nebraska, The Post, and Little Women, as well as his compelling lead action performance in Nobody, which he also produced. Now, as Better Call Saul wraps up its final season, which premiered this week, the two-time Emmy-winning writer and five-time Emmy-nominated actor-producer is already lining up his next project with the cable station. Specifically, Odenkirk will star in and produce Straight Man, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Richard Russo, which has officially been greenlit. The first season will be composed of eight one-hour episodes.
As the press release notes, Straight Man is set to be adapted and show-run by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein. The former is the creator of ABC's short-lived Resurrection, while the latter is best known for his work on NBC's The Office, where he wrote, produced, and played the part of Toby Flenderson. Alongside Odenkirk, the writers will also produce the upcoming dramedy series with Peter Farrelly, who will direct the pilot, Mark Johnson, Marc Provissiero, Naomi Odenkirk, Bob's wife, and Russo.
When the project was announced earlier this month, it was apparent that AMC was keen on getting this show up and running with haste, and sure enough, this fast turnaround came about quite swiftly. Though, as Dan McDermott, the president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, noted, they're quite happy with the work they've done with Odenkirk to date, and they want to keep a good thing going.
The saying goes ‘the third time's 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 ... [W]e 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.
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Filled with complexity, humor, and depth, Russo's Straight Man follows the first-person perspective of William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Odenkirk), the unexpected chairman of the English department in a sorely underfunded Pennsylvania college. From there, Devereux's mid-life crisis spirals as he must take on all the hassles and headaches that come with such a loaded and severely underserved new head position.
As seen with his excellent performance as Jimmy McGill, i.e. Saul Goodman, on Breaking Bad and now Better Call Saul, Odenkirk can bring such wit, intricacy, urgency, sincerity, and vulnerability to the screen, and this role should only continue to prove what Odenkirk can do as a dramatic actor — especially as he moves away from the most defining role of his career. We'll keep you posted on the latest developments on this forthcoming project as they come along.