Did you know it's been nearly five years since Breaking Bad aired its final episode? And TEN YEARS since it first began? It started off as just another one of those crime shows, albeit with some great acting and writing to go with it. Yet with each subsequent season, the tension mounted and more and more people jumped on board to watch. By the time the last season aired, everyone was talking about it.
We followed Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) through thick and thin, but eventually it had to come to an end. In all honesty, I enjoyed the show so much I would have watched a hundred more episodes, but the show's creator had the awareness to step away from the series at the right time, bringing the story to a close rather than dragging it on for any longer.
However, that wasn't the last we saw of that world. While the story had ended, they managed to return to some of the characters in the prequel series, Better Call Saul. Focusing on the comical criminal lawyer (played by comedian Bob Odenkirk) that Walt and Jesse often turned to in times of need, it was a very different kind of show.
For one thing, we were focusing on a period of time years before Walt first dipped his toes in the crystal meth trade, but it was also a far different pace. Rather than an escalation into violence, Better Call Saul is a slow-burn, and a tragic one at that.
But with three seasons under its belt, they have started to move slowly into the Breaking Bad era, with old favourites making appearances. Mike (the 'fixer') was introduced and given a solid backstory, and then we finally got Gus Fring showing up in the most recent season. All those cameos are well and good (and the show's writing has been stellar), but we all know who we are really waiting for: Walt and Jesse.
Well, luckily for us, it's definitely on the cards for the actors to reunite on the set of Better Call Saul.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan said that he "desperately" wants to reunite the pair, and it seems that the rest of the cast and crew are on board too. Apparently, Bryan Cranston turned up on set for season three to visit, and "everyone went nuts".
Gilligan continued:
“You could hear the buzz go through the building. I desperately want to see both of them on Better Call Saul. Peter [Gould, co-creator] wants it, the writers do, the actors do.”
When asked by EW whether he has any interest in working with the same team again, playing his iconic character, Cranston was a firm believer. “If he asked, I would just say yes," he said.
"He [Gilligan] 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."
However, Gilligan doesn't think it should just be a cameo (as entertaining as that would be). “It wouldn’t feel as satisfying if it was just a cameo or an Alfred Hitchcock walkthrough,” he said. “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."