Better Call Saul comes to an end on AMC this summer, but the network isn’t done with Giancarlo Esposito. Per The Hollywood Reporter, it has just been announced that the actor will star in and executive produce The Driver for AMC and AMC+. This marks the third collaboration for Esposito and AMC after the actor was featured in both Breaking Bad and its spinoff series, Better Call Saul, both of which have earned tremendous critical acclaim.
The Driver follows a cabbie (Esposito) whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to chauffeur a New Orleans-based Zimbabwean gangster notorious for exploiting undocumented immigrants at ports in the southern United States. The series is based on a David Morrissey-led 2014 BBC miniseries from Danny Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser. Esposito got involved with the American adaptation as he was a fan of the BBC version. Brocklehurst and Sunu Gonera created this new take on The Driver, which is produced by AMC Studios in association with A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment.
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“I am over the moon excited, enthused and inspired to be in collaboration with the stellar network and creative team of AMC,” Esposito said in a statement. “Thanks for believing in me. It’s great to be back home!”
Gonera added, “It’s surreal to be at this point. This whole journey started as a simple conversation four years ago in my manager Josh Kesselman’s living room when he said, ‘Giancarlo is keen to play an everyman as his next role. There’s a British show he loves called The Driver. Would you watch the pilot and see if you could come up with a take you both could get excited about?’ Um, would I? You had me at Giancarlo and everyman.”
Theo Travers will serve as showrunner for The Driver, with Gonera directing the first episode. Esposito, Gonera, Brocklehurst, and Travers will also executive produce the series along with Thruline’s Kesselman and Danny Sherman, A+E Studios head Barry Jossen, and executive VP creative affairs Tana Jamieson. The project is set for a 2023 release on AMC and AMC+.
“It is a pleasure and a privilege to be working with AMC on this bold reimagining of my U.K. miniseries,” noted Brocklehurst in the statement. “Sunu Gonera and Theo Travers have both brought superb original voices to the premise and I am thrilled to be going on this ride with them.”
Travers also said, “I couldn’t be more excited to help bring this show to life. I’ve been a fan of Giancarlo’s work since Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. It’s a true honor to have the chance to collaborate with him in this way. The Driver is a high-voltage, dark identity quest for an everyman trying to find renewed purpose in his life.”
Related: Better Call Saul Season 6 Teasers Officially Confirm April Premiere Date
Giancarlo Esposito Will First Say Farewell to Gustavo Fring
AMC
Fans are preparing for the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul, which will be debuting in April. The show will bring an end to Giancarlo Esposito’s run as Los Pollos Hermanos manager and drug kingpin Gustavo Fring, a role he first played on Breaking Bad. Though Gustavo’s story will soon be over, AMC clearly wanted to do a lot more with Esposito.
“Giancarlo is a singular talent who is already beloved by AMC viewers through his standout performances in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. We are excited to be continuing his relationship with AMC and AMC+ in a series built around him and an unforgettable character who takes what he thinks is a straightforward job opportunity and finds himself confronted with a world that tests him in ways he could never have imagined,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Network.
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Jeremy Dick
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