After finishing up his run as Saul Goodman on Better Call Saul, series star Bob Odenkirk is sticking around at AMC. It was previously reported that he would be starring in a new series for the network called Straight Man. Now, per TVLine, it’s been revealed that the series has been retitled ahead of its release, now dubbed Lucky Hank. Of course, the title refers to Odenkirk’s character, as he plays a man named William Henry “Hank” Devereaux, Jr.

Lucky Hank is based on Richard Russo’s novel Straight Man. It was adapted as a TV series by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, who serve as co-showrunners. Along with Odenkirk as the titular Hank, the series also stars Mireille Enos as his wife, with Olivia Scott Welch playing his daughter. Diedrich Bader, Sara Amini, Cedric Yarbrough, and Suzanne Cryer are also featured.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

“I loved Paul and Aaron’s take on Richard’s excellent, entertaining novel,” Odenkirk previously said in a statement of signing on for the series." Once again, on a project with AMC focused on character depth and sensitivity. This milieu (academia) seems very pertinent to the conversations we’re all having. I am drawn to the tone of humanity and humor in the novel and I look forward to playing this role - something lighter than my recent projects but still closely observed and smart."

Per AMC, the show’s official logline reads:

Odenkirk is executive producing with series director Peter Farrelly, Mark Johnson, Richard Russo, Naomi Odenkirk, and Marc Provissiero. Sony Pictures’ Television TriStar TV is producing.

Lucky Hank is a midlife crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry “Hank” Devereaux, Jr. (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.

Lucky Hank Will Have Some Similarities With Better Call Saul

     AMC

The Hank character is very different from Jimmy “Saul Goodman” McGill, but there are some things that Lucky Hank has in common with Better Call Saul. Odenkirk has said that it has moments of serious drama mixed with more comedic moments, something that the Saul Goodman character had also been known for. These two stories are otherwise vastly different, but they’re tonally similar in sharing those dramatic and comedic elements.

“It’s more comic,” Odenkirk recently explained via EW. “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 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.”

Lucky Hank is expected to arrive on AMC in Spring 2023.