AMC calls sixth and final Saul

Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk

AMC Networks in the US has renewed Breaking Bad spin-off series Better Call Saul for a sixth and final season, alongside revealing a slate of drama projects in development.

The 13-episode run is set to go into production later this year ahead of airing in 2021. The drama’s fifth season is due to premiere on February 23.

Produced by Sony Pictures Television, Better Call Saul was created by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Both Gilligan and Gould also serve as executive producers alongside Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein and Thomas Schnauz.

Meanwhile, AMC Networks Entertainment Group has revealed details of seven projects in development. These include More as This Story Develops, a drama series produced by Katie Couric and Wendy Walker, which has been inspired by their friendship and careers in broadcast news in the 1980s.

Musical dramedy National Anthem is from writer Scott Z Burns (The Report, Contagion) and executive producer Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). It follows a family that has fallen down the ladder of American life.

Sleeping Beauties is based on the novel by Stephen King and his son Owen. It focuses on a mystical occurrence that puts all the women in a small town to sleep, leaving the men to rescue them.

Bunny, by Megan Mostyn Brown (NOS4A2, Gotham) is also based on a novel, this time by Mona Awad. The show centres on a lonely student who is drawn into a mysterious clique of girls.

Animated drama series Pantheon, based on the short stories by sci-fi writer Ken Liu, is also on the development slate, as is Nigeria 2099, which is set in a poor district of Lagos in the future.

Finally, Silverbird, from journalist and screenwriter Scott Gold (Shooter, Under the Dome), is the story of an army veteran who, needing to disappear, falls in with a collective of mercenaries on their way to Africa with an unusual mission.

AMC production arm AMC Studios, meanwhile, has teased four projects that will be available to third-party buyers. The Sparrow, based on the science fiction novel by Mary Doria Russell, follows a secret mission into space to trace the source of musical communication from extraterrestrial life. Mark Johnson is the exec producer.

Fates & Furies, based on Lauren Goff’s novel, explores two perspectives of marriage, while I Run Hot follows the relationship between a gay curmudgeon who never quite fits in with the community and an instagram celebrity who can’t help but exemplify it.

Finally, dark comedy Work it Out will be executive produced by and star Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect, True Blood). It focuses on a long-time Jane Fonda devotee in 1994 Myrtle Beach who will do whatever it takes to establish her workout empire.

AMC has also revealed upcoming premiere dates, with BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet airing in January; Year of the Rabbit broadcasting in February; original anthology series Dispatches From Elsewhere and the fourth seasons of travelogue series Ride with Norman Reedus and Brockmire airing in March; spin-off series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, season three of Killing Eve and season two of Liar premiering in April; and drama title Quiz hitting screens in May.