In the six years since Breaking Bad exited AMC as one of the most critically acclaimed TV dramas of all time, creator Vince Gilligan expanded that universe in huge ways with Better Call Saul (and its co-creator Peter Gould), but fans will finally make an official return to Breaking Bad's world with the upcoming AMC and Netflix TV project El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Who else will be returning, though?
Given the high security surrounding El Camino, whose production wasn't even officially confirmed until Bob Odenkirk only recently mentioned that it got filmed months ago, fans have yet to learn all of the Breaking Bad cast members that will be showing up for the TV movie. In fact, the movie's first teaser trailer didn't even use Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman, despite the fact that the project centers on him in the time after he escaped the meth-obsessed neo-Nazis. (Paul said fans are going to be pumped, though.)
The only O.G. Breaking Bad character who appeared in the trailer was Skinny Pete, as portrayed by Charles Baker, and he wasn't giving up Jesse's location. So let's go over most of the Breaking Bad characters beyond Jesse and Skinny Pete who might show up in the El Camino movie, starting with the obvious third leg of that grouping.
Badger - Matt Jones
Assuming he isn't off helping the Star Trek creative team plan their next adventures, Breaking Bad's Badger almost has to return for El Camino in order to bring closure to his friendship with Jesse Pinkman. Not to mention his tangential relationship with Walter White, whom Badger and Skinny Pete assisted in the Breaking Bad finale to pose as hitmen in order to secure Walt Jr. received Walt's moolah. If for no other reason, Matt Jones' Badger needs to return in order to potentially serve as the presumably lone source of El Camino's broad humor.
Brock Cantillo - Ian Posada
As one of Breaking Bad's most innocent characters, Brock (and his mother Andrea, by extension) represented a shot at traditional domestic life for Jesse. Of course, Walt ruined that by poisoning Brock (non-lethally) in order to turn Jesse against Gus, and then Todd later murdered Andrea, putting a permanent end to that potential normalcy. Actor Ian Posada might be too old to reprise the role of Brock, depending on what the El Camino timeline will be, but it's hard to imagine Jesse avoiding any attempts to contact Brock, who would presumably be in the care of his grandmother.
Mr. And Mrs. Pinkman - Michael Bofshever and Tess Harper
If the cops are after Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, then they're likely going to have to hit up his parents. Grated, it'll likely only be to discovery that the Pinkmans cut Jesse out of their lives. They kicked him out of his house (that they owned) when the mom discovered his basement meth lab, and the parents cut ties with him permanently in Season 3 after he anonymously bought the house from them. But would they still be so against him if they knew just how tortured his life became? (As well, we might see an appearance from Jesse's brother Jake, though he only showed up for a single episode in Breaking Bad's original run.)
Skyler White - Anna Gunn
Jesse and Skyler were about as unconnected as two main characters could be in Breaking Bad, but even though Walt initially attempted to keep her innocent of everything in the meth game, she'd dirtied her hands quite a bit by the end. As far as questions that remained in Breaking Bad's wake, I've wondered how many of Walt and Jesse's crimes are able to tie back to Skyler, and whether or not Jesse would have tried to contact her after speeding away from Walt and the massacre at the neo-Nazi hub.
Marie Schrader - Betsy Brandt
One would think that Marie would want justice for the murder of her husband, Dean Norris' DEA agent Hank Schrader, but that's assuming that Skyler went public with the coordinates to find their already buried bodies. There's a legitimate chance that Marie still has no idea what happened to Hank when El Camino starts off. If that's the case, I'd bet my collection of rocks, er, minerals that Marie would take matters into her own hands in finding out more information by any means necessary. She might even partner up with Steve Gomez's wife Belinda, who was referred to but never seen on Breaking Bad.
Huell Babineaux - Lavell Crawford
Breaking Bad fans had the joy of watching Lavell Crawford reprise the fan-favorite role of Huell Babineaux in Better Call Saul, which helped set up his future position as one of Saul Goodman's bodyguards. But Huell's post-Breaking Bad fate absolutely needs to get cleared up in El Camino, considering he was left in a safe house by Hank and Gomez, who lied to Huell about Jesse's fate in order to scare him into giving up info about Walt. Hank and Gomez soon got killed off, though, presumably leaving Huell in a mentally chaotic state until hopefully someone thought to check up on him. (The Internet, of course, had fun with the idea of Huell being stuck in the room for the rest of his days.)
Patrick Kuby - Bill Burr
Unlike his on-screen counterpart, Bill Burr's Kuby has yet to make any appearances on Better Call Saul (though we'll be watching him soon in The Mandalorian). Kuby last showed up in the twelfth episode of Season 5 after eavesdropping on Badger and Skinny Pete's long convo about Babylon 5. Hank told Huell that Walt killed Kuby, but considering he lied about other stuff during that chat, we believe Kuby is still alive out there. And because fans have no idea what happened to him, El Camino is clearly the ideal way to clear that up, even if it's a stretch to connect him to the story.
Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz - Adam Godley and Jessica Hecht
In perhaps a more perfect world, the Breaking Bad franchise would continue with another prequel that focused on Walter White's college days, particularly in relation to his relationships with Elliott Schwartz and the latter's future wife Gretchen, who dated Walt for a spell. But until that gets announced, I'll just hope that El Camino can bring Elliot and Gretchen back to show how they fared in the span after Walt showed up with his financial demands. It's more than possible that their company Gray Matter could find a way to involve itself with Jesse's case, considering Walt was also the cause for his mostly ruined life.
Ed the Disappearer - Robert Forster
As it goes with others mentioned here, the chance for a post-Breaking Bad appearance from Robert Forster's vacuum cleaner-repairing Ed likely depends on whether or not Jesse's El Camino story has a direct need for a character that gives endangered criminals new identities. If Jesse aims to run for it in the titular car, at least until swapping that out, then Ed would be a pretty reliable resource to have. And for all that Jesse might not have been as clinically intelligent as his former cooking partner, he'd be smart enough not to botch things like Walt by returning to the place where it all went wrong.
Saul Goodman / Gene - Bob Odenkirk
As the lead of his own prequel series, Bob Odenkirk's rule-juking lawyer has absolutely gotten his due justice by way of getting spun into one of the franchise's most fully rounded characters. As such, his presence in El Camino arguably isn't as necessary as that of other Breaking Bad familiars. However, Saul Goodman is technically the only flagship character whose future is known: he's "currently" working as a mall Cinnabon manager who goes by the name of Gene. Beyond wanting to see a Better Call Saul connection in the movie, I think it could offer up some major insights if El Camino also taps into how Saul made that hard life turn, as a way to reflect Jesse's situation. (I wouldn't be angry if Rhea Seehorn's Kim showed up in some form, also.)
Walter White - Bryan Cranston
With only a feature's runtime for El Camino, Vince Gilligan likely won't want to spend a lot of narrative legroom on flashbacks. But assuming a flashback does come into play, it absolutely needs to feature Bryan Cranston's return to his Emmy-recognized role. And we're talking an actual return for new scenes, as opposed to Vince Gilligan dusting off some archival footage of previously viewed scenes. Alternately, Jesse likely won't be able to leave Walt's memory behind for the rest of his life, so perhaps fans can see Heisenberg reappear as a figment of Jesse's broken and haunted psyche. He wouldn't even need to speak, really, but maybe if he could knock...
No guarantees can be made just yet about what Breaking Bad fans can expect to see in El Camino, but all the details will come to light when the movie gets released on Netflix on Friday, October 11, at 12:01 a.m. PT.
