As Better Call Saul gets set to take Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill over the edge into becoming Saul Goodman, the AMC drama will hopefully continue stepping back to the past to highlight memorable moments from the character's past. Such flashbacks would obviously allow for former characters and actors to return for more, such as Jimmy's former friend and schemer Marco Pasternak, as portrayed by the always great Mel Rodriguez.
As part of the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, Mel Rodriguez is promoting his genre-bending new Showtime series On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which co-stars Kirsten Dunst. The actor sat down with CinemaBlend to talk about Central Florida, but I clearly had to bring up his past in Albuquerque, asking if he agreed that fans needed to see more from Jimmy and Marco as the Saul transition goes down. In his words:
I would love to see some more Marco stories. I would love to be some more Marco. Oh man. God, yeah. I'm just waiting for the phone call, man.
Mel Rodriguez almost seemed wistful when thinking about the concept of returning to Better Call Saul, which he also loves and keeps current with. Rather than agreeing for agreement's sake, he appeared ready to pencil his name on a Better Call Saul contract right then and there!... Okay, so maybe that's just me reading way too heavily into things.
Still, it can't be undersold that Mel Rodriguez is indeed interested in making a return to Better Call Saul in the future. I joked about grabbing a bullhorn to try and convince someone, and the actor said:
Write it down, man. 'More Marco.'
Now commences the #BetterCallMarco social media efforts, which shall not cease until there is at least one more scene in which Mel Rodriguez returns to add further clarity surrounding Jimmy's less virtuous mindset and motivations. Possibly involving someone taking a shit on another spot in a person's car, but possibly not.
Marco's return obviously wouldn't be a very extended arc, considering he died back in the Season 1 finale, which was fittingly called "Marco." But it wouldn't need to be extended. It just needs to be, period.
Fans will remember that Mel Rodriguez actually did make a return to Better Call Saul in Season 3 for the episode "Slip," in which ol' Slippin' Jimmy used his namesake plot to get money out of someone. Marco and Jimmy hit up the store that Jimmy's dad owned to find a coin collection. It was a keyhole peek at Jimmy's relationship with his father, or lack thereof, and one has to think that co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould can come up with myriad ways to get Mel Rodriguez's Marco back in Season 5 or beyond, assuming AMC keeps wisely renewing the ratings winner.
For now, though, fans can get ready to watch Mel Rodriguez play a far different character for Showtime's On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Created by Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky, the drama partly centers on a billion-dollar company whose riches were built upon a pyramid scheme, and also partly centers on Kirsten Dunst's Krystal Stubbs, a mother and water park employee who is forced to earn (and con) her way up the company's ranks, despite the unpredictable costs. Hopefully the actress doesn't accidentally get super high this time!
Within the show, Mel Rodriguez's Ernie isn't as scheme-friendly as Marco is. Rather, he's a more innocent husband and father who works with Krystal at the water park, and ultimately finds himself caught up in a web of trouble. The ten-episode season definitely defies certain expectations, and the character of Ernie fits right into the growing chaos on display.
On Becoming a God in Central Florida will make its debut on Showtime on Sunday, August 25, at 10:00 p.m. ET. Better Call Saul, meanwhile, will premiere Season 5 on AMC at some point in 2020, hopefully after someone picked up the phone and gave Mel Rodriguez a call, amirite? If only spoiler security wasn't so strict for Season 5!
