AMC Gives Straight-to-Series Order for Badlands

NEW YORK: The martial arts drama Badlands (working title) has been given a straight-to-series order from AMC, which has also unveiled new details about the highly anticipated upcoming series Better Call Saul.

Badlands is very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. It tells the story of a great warrior and a young boy who embark on a journey across a dangerous land in a quest for enlightenment. AMC has ordered six one-hour episodes, slated to premiere in late 2015 or early 2016. The series was created by writers/showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar (Shanghai Noon, Smallville).

“We are incredibly excited to help Al and Miles, as well as Stacey and Michael from Double Feature to bring Badlands to life,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s executive VP of original programming, production and digital content. “This creative team has so much expertise in bringing a fresh take to classic genres from their film and television experience, and their take on martial arts will be no exception. Along with a beautiful story, they've also assembled the A-Team of martial arts fight choreography in Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung.”

The network has also revealed some new details about the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, set to premiere in early 2015. The series stars Bob Odenkirk, who played Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad. Odenkirk will be joined by Jonathan Banks, who played Mike Erhmantraut in Breaking Bad, along with Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap), Rhea Seehorn (Franklin & Bash), Patrick Fabian (Big Love) and Michael Mando (Orphan Black). The show will be set six years before Goodman meets Walter White. When the audience is first introduced to the lead character, the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer hustling to make ends meet. The debut season will have ten episodes; a second season of 13 episodes has already been greenlit.

AMC has a new docuseries coming to its schedule as well, 4th and Loud. The network has now set an August 12, 9 p.m. premiere for the 10×1-hour series. 4th and Loud is about the LA KISS arena football team. It is produced by Thinkfactory Media.