On Sunday August 11, the premiere of Breaking Bad‘s series finale of eight running episodes will commence as the countdown to the popular drug drama’s final episode looms ever closer. With the show having been absent since last September, there’s a lot for the devout viewers out there to have to remember so naturally we’ve compiled a few tips to keep up with the show along with some previews and peculiarities to keep an eye out for.

Teaser

At the end of July, a teaser for the final 8 episode season of Breaking Bad was released in the eeriest and most cryptic of fashions. The one minute and 11 second long clip consists of a voiceover of the show’s star, Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) narrating Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” while the camera pans over a barren New Mexico landscape. The ominous tone of the poem as well as its theme of the fall of leaders coincides perfectly with White’s falling drug empire. Hint hint.

Comic Con

Many of the cast and crew were in San Diego for Comic Con 2013 where they held a Q&A panel and showed some never before seen footage. Probably the most intriguing aspect of the panel, though, was not the fact that Cranston wore a latex mask of his antihero character throughout the entire convention, but his own personal insight into the flawed psyche of Walter White. He noted,

“Under the right circumstances – need, greed, whatever the case may be, depression — you push those buttons at the right time and anyone can become dangerous. And that’s what happened to Walter White: Those buttons were all pushed at one time, and he was in a dire situation. So he did go from Mr. Chips to Scarface… A lot of different people have their opinions on when that turn was, but to me, really it was that first episode when he decided to try to become someone he wasn’t. And that was it. He was on a slippery slope and sold his soul.”

Whoa.

Spinoff

That’s right, it’s not all over starting on Sunday. Creator Vince Gilligan says the Breaking Bad spinoff is “full speed ahead.” While it is not yet official, the new show would feature crooked lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and be titled “Better Call Saul.” Saul Goodman as the main man allows the spinoff more leeway from a comedic standpoint, while his clients pose some dramatic elements. It has already been reported that Giancarlo Esposito, or “Gus,” can be counted in for a prequel spinoff.

Be sure to tune in on Sunday, August 11 for the season premiere of the series finale of Breaking Bad.