You have to hand it to Vince Gilligan. Not only has he created one of the best TV series of all time, he then followed it up with another equally lauded show.

And as Better Call Saul draws to an epic finale, the question on everyone’s lips is: will there be a spin-off of the spin-off? Or a prequel to the prequel? Or a sequel of the prequel? Before we tie ourselves up in Breaking Bad multiverse knots, it’s probably best to hear it from the man himself about his next plans.

Speaking with Rolling Stone, he said of the franchise: “I can definitely imagine revisiting it. Selfishly, I’d like to do so, to keep this thing going.” But hold off on pulling open the celebratory baggie of blue crystal meth just for now, as he added: “Yes, I could do more with this universe. And maybe someday I will, especially if I fail at everything that comes next. Then I'll come crawling back. But right now, whether there's more room to grow or not – and there probably is – I feel like it's time to do something new.”

He also took a swipe at other shows that are too quick to roll out all manner of extra programmes, characters and time-leaps (*cough* Marvel): “Without naming any names, I look around at some of the worlds, the universes, the stories that I love, whether they’re on TV or in the movies. And I think there’s a certain point, and it’s hard to define, where you’ve done too much in the same universe. Just leave it alone. And some universes are much bigger and more elastic. Ours is a very small one, Albuquerque, New Mexico, versus some of these worlds and series of movies and TV shows.

“The main thing I’m scared of is becoming too much of a one-trick pony.”

There’s no danger of that. Over the years, Breaking Bad has won more than 110 industry awards, including Emmy, Writers Guild of America and Peabody Awards, as well as consistently coming up as number one in “greatest TV shows of all time” lists. Better Call Saul, meanwhile, has picked up 27 gongs from the biz, and the accolades around the final season have been rolling in, with some critics, including one for the BBC, claiming that it “bettered Breaking Bad.”

Suffice to say, the next story that Gilligan dreams up is likely to be met with just as much enthusiasm, and all eyes will be on the messed up anti-heroes he lives to create.