Bryan Cranston details Walter White’s Better Call Saul cameo

Chris Tilly
Breaking Bad video game

The team behind Better Call Saul promised fans that Breaking Bad’s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman would appear in the prequel show. Now actor Bryan Cranston has spoken about their long-awaited appearance.

Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) were the lead characters in Breaking Bad, with Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) just a supporting player.

But spin-off series Better Call Saul made him center stage, charting the (seemingly) honorable Jimmy McGill’s transformation into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.

The series is a prequel, meaning we’re with Saul before he meets the Breaking Bad duo. But through flashbacks – as well as black-and-white flashes forward – Better Call Saul plays with time, and the writers have somehow found a way to join the dots.

What did Bryan Cranston say about his Better Call Saul appearance?

Speaking to Sirius XM’s Basic podcast – which was quoted on ScreenRant – Cranston revealed just how much we’d be seeing of him and co-star Aaron Paul in the series.

“There’s a scene that Aaron is in without me,” he explained. “And there’s a scene where I’m in without him. And then there’s a scene where we’re both in. So there’s three scenes to come. It’s pretty cool.

“But to be honest with you – because we shot everything in a bubble and completely out of sequence – I don’t even know what episodes we’re in. You’re gonna find out.”

How could they bring Walt and Jesse back?

Each season of Better Call Saul kicks off in black-and-white, with Jimmy/Saul now called Gene and working in a Cinnabon in Nebraska. As Jesse survived the events of Breaking Bad – and sequel movie El Camino – he could conceivably enter Jimmy/Saul/Gene’s world. The show could end with them working together again.

BUT, Walter did not survive the events of Breaking Bad, making his involvement in such scenes impossible. Unless he appears as a ghost.

It’s also unlikely to be pre-Breaking Bad, as Paul is in his 40s now, so would struggle to pass as a High School kid.

So the more likely scenario is that Better Call Saul catches up with or flashes forward to the Breaking Bad era. We can then see new scenes of Walt and Jesse in action, as suggested in an image the show posted to social media (see above). And should Saul be included in the scene they shot together, it’s maybe a conversation we didn’t hear or meeting we didn’t see.

This is how showrunner Peter Gould teased their return to EW last month: “You’re going to see Walt and Jesse this season. But I think the way you see them and when you see them won’t necessarily be what you’d expect.”

When does Better Call Saul return?

Better Call Saul returns to screens this coming Monday, July 11, for the climax of Season 6.

Comedy legend Carol Burnett is appearing as a character called Marion. Meanwhile, the show will also be answering the big question – what happens to Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) – as the character is nowhere to be seen during Breaking Bad.

Those loose ends and more will be tied up in the final six episodes of the concluding season of Better Call Saul.

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About The Author

Chris Tilly is the TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and over the last 20 years, he's worked for the likes of Time Out, IGN, and Fandom. Chris loves Star Wars, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, and especially horror, while he knows maybe too much about Alan Partridge. You can email him here: chris.tilly@dexerto.com.