The creator behind Breaking Bad is dying to figure out a way to put Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on the prequel series Better Call Saul…
In many ways, Better Call Saul really has created its own universe separate from Breaking Bad despite serving as a direct sequel to the landmark series authored by Vince Gilligan.
When Better Call Saul premiered four seasons ago, the show’s entire premise was about the origin story behind sleazy strip mall attorney Saul Goodman, who worked closely with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman for several seasons on Breaking Bad.
Since the show debut, Jimmy McGill has slowly but surely started to morph into Saul Goodman with more than a few iconic characters from Breaking Bad making appearances including Giancarlo Esposito, who showed up last season to return to his role as meth kingpin Gus Fring.
But the two most famous cameos that could be made on Better Call Saul still haven’t happened as neither Walter White (Bryan Cranston) or Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) have popped up on the series in any form or fashion. In fact, last season there was a ton of buzz that Jesse would somehow make an appearance, perhaps in some kind of flashback or even in a scene that could take place in present day after Saul Goodman has become Gene, the local manager at the Cinnabon in Nebraska.
Sadly, Jesse didn’t come riding into town shouting ‘yeah bitch’ to anyone who could hear him coming.
Still, Gilligan says that he’s trying to figure out the best way possible to work Walter White and Jesse Pinkman into the show because at some point, those cameos just have to happen.
“I desperately want to see both of them on Better Call Saul. Peter wants it, the writers do, the actors do,” Gilligan said about bringing Walter White and Jesse Pinkman to the show when speaking to EW.
“It wouldn’t feel as satisfying if it was just a cameo or an Alfred Hitchcock walkthrough. I think we’ve waited long enough. We damn well better have a good reason for them to show up. I just hope we figure it out because I’ve got to hear, ‘Yeah, bitch!’ one more time.”
For their part, both Cranston and Paul have said they are more than willing to reprise their most famous characters to return to the world of Breaking Bad one more time to do an appearance on Better Call Saul.
“If [Vince Gilligan] asked, I would just say yes,” Cranston said. “[Vince] takes such meticulous care of his characters and the story, and he changed our lives. ‘Yes’ is the answer. Even if it’s just a brush-by. A quick little something. We’ve come to know people who we’ve seen before but we don’t know that we’ve seen them before, because we were in the store and we just passed by them. Or we might even have a word or two. ‘Oh no, please go ahead.’ ‘Thank you for holding the door.’ And then five years later, you would never remember that.
“So something as minuscule as that could be very interesting in the fabric of the whole thing. We have those kind of encounters every day, and I think that would be fun for the audience — and the most honest.”
Paul joined his former co-star in expressing a desire to drop by Better Call Saul.
“My attitude towards it is the same I had from when Better Call Saul first started,” Paul said “If Vince decided to put Jesse in Better Call Saul, it’s going to be for a reason, and that reason’s going to be very satisfying for me. I trust in Vince. I don’t think he would just do that to satisfy the fans. It would have a purpose, and whether or not he decides to find that purpose or searches for the purpose, I don’t know. But if he does find that purpose, I’m happy to jump on board.”
It’s interesting timing that everybody is talking about this with Breaking Bad about to celebrate a 10 year anniversary this year since the show launched with the cast reuniting at San Diego Comic Con on July 19. Better Call Saul will also make an appearance at the convention to show the first episode of season 4.
Is it possible that Walter White and Jesse Pinkman will make an appearance during the new season of Better Call Saul? It definitely appears everybody who matters wants it to happen so now we’ll just have to wait and see!
