We’ve known since April Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is developing a spin off centered on the show’s eccentric lawyer. Though it’s received a mixed reaction from fans, Gilligan is adamantly defending the idea.

In an interview with Empire Online, Gilligan went into great detail on why he believes a Breaking Bad spin off following Saul works. Even though he admits “lightning never strikes twice,” he thinks a Saul Goodman spin off would be “a great deal of fun, and a great challenge, and something I would look forward to doing. It’s definitely not set in stone yet, it’s definitely the early days of the process, and it may happen or it may not.”

We appreciate how Gilligan is so open during this early stage of the spin off’s development. Previous reports have said the show could be a half-hour program that edges on a comedy.

While he admits that it will affect people, “probably not to the same level” in the way Breaking Bad does, he still stands up for the spin off. “I personally would like to see it happen, because I think it would be its own creation and its own creature, and I think it would exist in a Breaking Bad universe, as it centers on a character that was integral to Breaking Bad, but I think it’s its own thing,” he said. “It’s like comparing an apple to an orange. Or white meth to blue meth.”

“The way to approach it is by knowing that it’s not going to be the same thing,” he continued. “It’s not to be completely of a piece with the original show, but if it’s a challenge, and it’s interesting to us to do it, that’s reason enough. Worst case scenario, it’s like the spin-off to M*A*S*H, AfterMASH, that nobody remembers – and I don’t think it hurt M*A*S*H any that it existed. I don’t think we’re going to have that problem, though. Anything based around the character of Saul Goodman and any show starring the wonderful Bob Odenkirk has more than an even chance of being quite good indeed.”

Gilligan seems to be keeping the expectation bar low, but we are still very eager to see what he and Peter Gould (who dreamed up the Saul character) have in store.

Meanwhile, Breaking Bad’s final eight episodes premiere August 11 on AMC.

Thanks, Empire.