Sneaky Pete, executive produced and starring Cranston, follows Marius, a con man played by Ribisi. Upon his release from prison, Marius assumes the identity of his cellmate, Pete, in order to escape his nefarious past. The possible January 2017 release date was actually first announced in late August by Sneaky Pete actor Ben Vereen, who plays Porter on the show, on his personal Twitter account. But, it would not be a Sneaky Pete panel without a bit of veiled deception. When Digital Trends asked Ribisi and Sneaky Pete showrunner Graham Yost during the Q&A portion of the panel to confirm January 2017 as the release date for Sneaky Pete, they mumbled indistinctly before Yost said the release date will be announced in December.
The exclusive footage screened at Comic Con adds a bit of background context to the illegal past Marius is running from in the pilot episode. In the footage screened at Comic Con, Cranston’s character Vince meets up with Marius at his pizza shop job to discuss investing in Marius’ illegal poker operation. At the end of the pilot episode, Vince tells Marius he has one week to return the money he allegedly stole from him or he will snip off pieces of his brother’s body each week. There’s no meth, but Vince is every bit as ruthless as Walter White at his Heisenberg worst.
Sneaky Pete‘s release marks Cranston’s first recurring TV role since Breaking Bad ended in September 2013, but it hasn’t been easy getting back. The pilot episode debuted on Amazon Prime Video on August 7, 2015. The show was picked up for a series order by Amazon three weeks later in early September, with a 2016 release date expected. That all changed when three months into 2016, David Shore, the original showrunner who wrote the pilot script from a story he co-wrote with Cranston, left the project and was replaced by Yost. Cranston was spotted directing an episode for the show in New York City in late August of this year, and Ribisi informed the audience that filming on the first season finished this past Monday.
With only a pilot episode out, Sneaky Pete has still kept the good graces of Amazon Prime members. The pilot episode has been rated by Amazon Prime members more than 16,000 times, with 94 percent of the ratings being either a 4 out of 5 or perfect 5 out of 5. The pilot episode for Sneaky Pete can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
