In the wake of Odenkirk’s endlessly-quotable run on Better Call Saul, it looks like he’s not quite ready to slow down. AMC’s new 8-episode series Lucky Hank will feature the beloved actor doing what he does best, watching his life fall apart. As bleak as that sounds, Odenkirk has nailed those sorts of characters in the past, as shown in Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, and the decidedly more brutal film Nobody. So fans of his work may want to keep an eye on this one.
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The teaser, newly posted by AMC, consists entirely of a close-up on Odenkirk’s face as he delivers a short disembodied monologue over some dramatic violins. “I’ve always been a difficult man,” he says. “I specialize in minor strife and insignificant irritation. That’s my lane.” The view then shifts to the outside of, presumably, his office at the college where he works, bafflingly showing a goose walking by in the hallway. As the teaser ends with the title drop and release date, one is left to only wonder, why not a duck?
Lucky Hank stars Odenkirk as William Henry “Hank” Devereaux, Jr., the English department chair at a woefully underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Alongside him, the new series will also feature Good Omens alum Mireille Enos as Hank’s wife Lily. She also serves as vice principal at the nearby high school. The story, based on Richard Russo’s 1997 novel Straight Man, follows them as Lily begins to question her life choices as Hank’s life becomes less and less stable.
This is certainly a departure for Odenkirk from certain roles like his deadly former assassin in the action-packed Nobody. But it also feels right on track for those more familiar with his work as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He and Enos will be joined by Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show), Sara Amini (Future Man), Cedric Yarbrough (The Boondocks), and Suzanne Cryer (Seinfeld) in Lucky Hank’s regular cast. Along with them, the show will feature several guest stars, including The Office’s Oscar Nuñez as the college dean, Die Hard 2’s Tom Bower as Hank’s father, Twin Peaks star Kyle Maclachlan as the college president, and Silicon Valley’s Chris Diamantopoulos as an old flame of Lily’s.
It looks as though this will be a character-focused project, which is something at which this cast excels. It’s also what many likely already expect from an AMC production. So here’s hoping it turns out to be something that brings in the fans, even if those fans end up feeling some unfortunate emotions.
Lucky Hank will premiere March 19th, 2023 on AMC.
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Source: amc+/YouTube, Deadline
