Lucky Hank, Bob Odenkirk‘s follow-up to Better Call Saul, has been canceled by AMC after one season. Although the series received positive reviews, the audience just wasn’t there to justify a second season.
“We’re proud of Lucky Hank and thankful for the work of everyone who brought this unique, playful and deeply human show to viewers, from the talented creative team to our partners at Sony and, of course, Bob, Mireille and the entire cast and crew,” AMC said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we are not able to proceed with a second season, but we are glad these eight episodes exist on AMC+ and will continue to find new fans — or be seen again by viewers who come back to spend more time with Hank, Lily and the entertaining cast of characters at Railton College.“
Lucky Hank is set at a struggling Pennsylvania college and follows William Henry “Hank” Devereaux Jr. (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department. In addition to Bob Odenkirk, Lucky Hank also stars Mireille Enos as Lily, William’s wife and the vice principal of the local high school. Just as Hank’s life begins to unravel, Lily also begins to question the path she’s on and the choices she’s made. You can check out a review of the series from our own Alex Maidy right here.
Bob Odenkirk was especially excited about Lucky Hank and the chance to step away from Saul Goodman. “I love the tone,” Odenkirk said last year. “It’s more comic. I feel like I relate to the main character, who’s a misanthrope. He’s a cranky guy, but you like him. And I just think tonally it’s great. It feels like a new mashup of comedy and drama that we’ve been on the verge of for a long time. [It’s like] you took a very fun show — like a Parks and Rec — and you said, ‘Let’s slow down and get to know these people and have their internal battles be a little bit more of the subject matter.’ So it’s really a great mashup of comedy and the kind of drama that we’ve gotten to do on Better Call Saul and it’s become more prevalent in streaming shows, and I think it’ll be neat. I hope the audience is up for it.” That makes the cancelation all the more painful.