The critically acclaimed Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul is a few months away from its new season.
While it’s achieved a huge amount of success as a compelling drama in its own right, there’s still an extra layer of enjoyment to be had from the future knowledge of Saul’s future in Breaking Bad, set five years after the events of Saul.
Both seasons of Jimmy McGill’s journey into depravity have been chock-full of appearances from Breaking Bad’s considerable pantheon of memorable characters, from the larger supporting roles of Bad characters such as Mike, Hector Salamanca and Tuco to appearances, for instance, of less significant characters such as Breaking Bad’s ‘Ken Wins’ lawyer, who showed up as one of Jimmy’s con targets in Season 2.
However, many connections between Saul and Mike’s stories and that of Walter White five years later remain untapped for now, and there’s certainly potential for a whole host of cameo appearances that would reveal new links between the shows or simply shine a light on pre-existing relationships before the events of Breaking Bad.
To celebrate Walter White’s 57th birthday today, Amazon are running a special offer letting fans who buy Breaking Bad – The Complete Series on DVD or Blu-ray get the first season of spin-off Better Call Saul on DVD free!
This offer ends at 23.59 on Sunday 18th September 2016. Click here for more details on how to claim.
Here are five Breaking Bad characters who could feasibly pop up in Better Call Saul at some point, be it in a larger role or merely a cameo, in the future of Jimmy McGill’s journey…
Warning: This article will contain major spoilers for all of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul thus far.
1. Huell
Known mainly by this point for the amusingly ambiguous end to his screen-time on Breaking Bad (did he ever leave the room?), Huell seems like a natural candidate for a future role on Saul as a future bodyguard for the lawyer once he becomes more involved in the criminal underworld in later seasons.
Huell didn’t crop up till season four, but he became an engaging and widely-known addition thanks to Lavell Crawford’s dry, deadpan comedic performance, emphasising the ways in which Breaking Bad could mix levity into even the most despairing parts of Walter White’s precipitous rise and fall.
2. Hank Schrader
While Dean Norris’ crusading DEA agent met his maker in tragic style just a few episodes before the end of Breaking Bad, the spin-off’s prequel time frame means that a return from Hank is completely feasible.
Jimmy’s inevitable involvement in dodgy criminal activities and drug dealers as he continues his path towards Saul Goodman is likely going to draw the attention of the authorities, and it’d be a nostalgic yet logical choice if Hank were to embody that particular threat of comeuppance for Jimmy/Saul as the investigator of the numerous drug kingpins and dealers Jimmy will be tied up with.
Plus, any appearance from the swaggering, macho Hank of that era would have an added element of poignancy thanks to our knowledge of his fate, so there’s real potential for Saul to harness viewer awareness of the events to come to its own advantage.
3. Gus Fring
Here’s one that’s very likely imminent: the appearance of chicken tycoon and infamous drug lord, Gus Fring. Gus and Saul have been vaguely linked ever since Gus was first introduced as the associate of ‘a guy who knows a guy’, and it would stand to reason that Saul’s involvement with Alberquerque’s numerous drug dealers would have entailed some kind of association with one of the biggest kingpins in the city.
Indeed, this seems to be a meeting that Saul is leading up to with Mike’s storyline – in the season two finale, his attempted assassination of Hector was thwarted by the mysterious involvement of an outsider.
With Gus’ inextricable bond with the Salamancas in mind, and the fact that the first letter of each of season two’s titles spelled out ‘FRING’S BACK’ when rearranged (an Easter Egg confirmed by the creators), it’s safe to say that while Gus might not immediately enter the show (it’s likely that he used an underling to stop Mike’s task), Giancarlo Esposito will absolutely come in at some point to reprise his role.
4. Victor
Once you’ve introduced Gus, there’s a whole host of characters who have had significant ties to him who could pop up in Saul. One of the most interesting of these is Victor, a henchman for Gus who appeared in seasons three and four. It was Victor’s tough, uncompromising attitude and constant loyalty to Gus that really emphasised the way in which Gus kept Walt under his thumb, acting almost as an extension of Gus himself with his creepy subservience.
He’s also memorable for his death, the gruesome box cutter kill that may still be etched in your memory, so there’s dramatic irony in uniting him with his boss once more to boot, as well as providing a potential degree of intimidating menace to Saul’s world.
5. Jesse Pinkman
Of course, the most frequently suggested characters to appear in Saul are Walt and Jesse, whose partnership with Saul led to his introduction. However, of the two, the prospect of Jesse making an appearance in the prequel is both more likely and more interesting.
At this point in the timeline, Jesse would be a small-time dealer who’s pretty careless about hiding his exploits, which makes him a natural candidate for an appearance as one of Jimmy’s many dirtbag clients at some point down the line.
It’s not likely that Saul could sustain Jesse in a genuinely recurring role, but the prospect of returning to Aaron Paul’s original portrayal of a pre-Walt Jesse as a cocky upstart is one that holds a lot more dramatic potential than an appearance from Walt, who would simply be an average schoolteacher in Saul’s 2003.
Which Breaking Bad characters do you want to see in Better Call Saul? Let us know below…