Promoting the release of Breaking Bad season three on DVD/Blu-ray in the United Kingdom, series creator Vince Gilligan spoke a bit about upcoming seasons five and six.

You may remember that AMC decided earlier this year that the show would only have sixteen more episodes, and those would be split into 8-ep seasons. Why is Gilligan happy about this?

“Well, 16 was a number that split in half pretty readily. It certainly could have been aired as one long block of episodes, but I think the folks that make those decisions – who are at a pay-grade higher than mine – figured it would be better to do two smaller-sized seasons and to take us through the year 2013.

“I’m very happy about that. I like the idea of us being around a couple more years. And, quite frankly, I’m quite happy about the idea of having more time to write and edit these episodes – it’s the greatest boon allowed by this particular scheduling structure.

“I love to be in the editing room for each episode. I always want to be present for that. I’m a bit of a control freak and I never want to delegate, so this scheduling allows me more time to do those things that a straight slog of 16 episodes wouldn’t allow me.”

Read more of the interview on Digital Spy.

We can’t believe that season three is only just now legally available in the United Kingdom. They still have to wait for season four, too!

Breaking Bad season five is to premiere this July on AMC!