Road to Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul
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Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul characters
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Gus FringThe polite owner of the Los Pollos Hermanos chain, with a much bigger side business
Jesse PinkmanWalter White's former student, who becomes his partner in the drug trade
Saul GoodmanJimmy McGill, the con-man lawyer behind the name Saul Goodman
Walter WhiteThe chemistry teacher who starts cooking meth
Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 39 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
Unlocked0 of 13
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- CameoTuco is back, years earlier
The dealer who drags Jimmy and the skateboarders into the desert is Tuco Salamanca, again played by Raymond Cruz. He plays the same role in Breaking Bad.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesChuck arrived under another name
To keep things secret, Michael McKean was announced as a "Dr. Thurber," named after humorist James Thurber. His real role was Chuck, Jimmy's brother.
source ↗ - Reference"It's showtime" straight from All That Jazz
In the courthouse montage, Jimmy looks in the mirror and says "It's showtime, folks!" The line comes from Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, and so does the Vivaldi concerto.
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- CameoThe obnoxious broker is a repeat
Ken, the obnoxious stockbroker Jimmy and Kim con at the bar, is Kyle Bornheimer reprising his role from "Cancer Man," a first-season Breaking Bad episode.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA real B-29 in the commercial
The bomber in Jimmy's commercial is FIFI, a real B-29 owned by the Commemorative Air Force and one of only two still flying. The episode is named "Fifi."
source ↗ - SetupA hidden message in the titles
Scramble the first letters of the season's ten episode titles and you get a two-word anagram about a Breaking Bad character coming back. The answer arrives later.
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- CameoA younger Gus Fring
Giancarlo Esposito returns as Gus and joins the main cast. He called this Gus "a little fresher, a little less jaded" than the one in Breaking Bad.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesEmployee training with an Emmy
AMC released Los Pollos Hermanos employee training videos with Esposito as Gus. They won the Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama.
source ↗ - CameoMore Breaking Bad faces
Laura Fraser (Lydia), Lavell Crawford (Huell) and Steven Bauer (Don Eladio) join the show in the same roles they play in Breaking Bad.
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- Behind the scenesA Pixar director on set
"Piñata" was directed by Andrew Stanton of Finding Nemo and WALL-E. The offer came out of a conversation with producers Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein.
source ↗ - CameoGale sings Tom Lehrer
David Costabile returns as chemist Gale Boetticher from Breaking Bad and sings a Tom Lehrer song. He had just one week to learn the lines and the lyrics.
source ↗ - ReferenceLalo was name-dropped years ago
Lalo Salamanca debuts here, played by Tony Dalton, but the name came first: in Breaking Bad's "Better Call Saul," a terrified Saul blurts out "Lalo didn't send you?"
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- CameoHank and Gomez meet Saul
Dean Norris and Steven Michael Quezada return as DEA agents Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez from Breaking Bad, cutting a deal with Saul over Domingo.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRobert Forster's farewell
Robert Forster appears as Ed, the vacuum store owner, in scenes shot before his death in 2019. The season premiere is dedicated to him.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBagman, Gilligan's toughest shoot
Vince Gilligan directed "Bagman," the episode with Jimmy and Mike stranded in the desert, and called it the most challenging episode he had directed.
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- Behind the scenesTitles that come in pairs
The season's first nine episodes all have two-part titles joined by "and": "Wine and Roses," "Carrot and Stick," "Black and Blue" and so on.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBob Odenkirk's scare
Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack on set in July 2021 while filming "Point and Shoot." He spent five weeks away from filming.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe only shoot outside New Mexico
The cold open of "Point and Shoot" was shot in March 2022 at Leo Carrillo State Beach in California. It's the only time the series filmed outside New Mexico.
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- Behind the scenesWalter White started on The X-Files
Vince Gilligan wrote The X-Files episode "Drive," casting Cranston as a villain the audience had to feel sorry for. AMC knew him from Malcolm in the Middle and came around after seeing that episode.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt was meant to be California
The show was first set to film in Riverside, California, before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The writers' strike also cut the season from nine episodes to seven.
source ↗ - ReferenceHeisenberg and Cool Hand Luke
Walt introduces himself to Tuco as "Heisenberg," after physicist Werner Heisenberg. The title "Crazy Handful of Nothin'" comes from Cool Hand Luke: a weak poker hand you can only win by bluffing.
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- SetupThe titles spell the ending
Put four of the season's episode titles together: "Seven Thirty-Seven," "Down," "Over" and "ABQ." "737 down over ABQ" spells out the finale's air disaster.
source ↗ - ReferenceS'all good, man
Saul Goodman debuts in the episode named after his slogan, written by Peter Gould. The name is a pun on "s'all good, man."
source ↗ - SetupWho is Lalo?
Dragged into the desert by Walt and Jesse, Saul panics: "Lalo didn't send you?" The show never explains who Lalo is. The name comes back later.
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- Behind the scenesFly was born from a budget crunch
The fly episode, directed by Rian Johnson, stays in the lab because the show was over budget. Moving the trucks to another location would have cost $25,000 to $35,000.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCranston behind the camera
Bryan Cranston directed the season premiere, "No Más." It features the first credited appearance of his daughter, Taylor Dearden, as a high school student.
source ↗ - ReferenceA drawing at the Santa Muerte shrine
The Salamanca cousins, played by brothers Daniel and Luis Moncada, debut crawling to a Santa Muerte shrine, a Mexican folk devotion. There they leave a drawing of Heisenberg.
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- ReferenceMajor Tom in Thai
Gale's karaoke video plays Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" with Thai subtitles. The background uses footage from Quark, a 1970s show Gilligan loved as a kid.
source ↗ - SetupThe dedication to W.W.
In Gale's notebook, Hank finds a poem dedicated to "W.W." Walt jokes that he's been caught, then explains it means Walt Whitman. Remember that dedication.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesMonths to build Gus's face
Gus's half-destroyed face in "Face Off" combined heavy makeup on Giancarlo Esposito with CGI. Greg Nicotero and The Walking Dead's effects team spent months on it, and it earned an Emmy nomination.
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- ReferenceCranston recites Ozymandias
The title comes from Shelley's poem about a king whose empire crumbles to ruins. In a 2013 trailer, Bryan Cranston read the whole poem.
source ↗ - ReferenceFelina, El Paso and Baby Blue
"Felina" is an anagram of "finale" and nods to Feleena from Marty Robbins' "El Paso," which Walt sings in the episode. The final scene plays Badfinger's "Baby Blue," a nod to the blue meth.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe fly is back
"Gliding Over All" is named after a poem in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The episode brings back the fly from "Fly," a painting from "Bit by a Dead Bee" and the dented paper towel dispenser from "4 Days Out."
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- Behind the scenesIt was almost called 63
The working title was "63," as in the show's 63rd episode. Thomas Schnauz talked Gilligan into a title of its own, and it became the name of Todd's car that Jesse escapes in.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCodename Greenbrier
The movie was shot in secret: the project was registered as "Greenbrier," and the cast used code names and disguises. Bryan Cranston flew in on a private jet for just 36 hours.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRobert Forster's goodbye
Robert Forster, who plays Ed, died of brain cancer on October 11, 2019, the same day the movie was released.
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- CameoCarol Burnett in Omaha
Marion, the older woman who befriends Gene, is played by TV comedy veteran Carol Burnett.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWalt and Jesse in an Airbnb
For the episode titled "Breaking Bad," Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul flew to Albuquerque in April 2021 and stayed four days in an Airbnb, where all wardrobe and makeup was done.
source ↗ - ReferenceThree ghosts of Christmas
In the finale, Saul talks with Mike, Walt and Chuck in three flashbacks about regrets and second chances. Peter Gould compared the scenes to the three ghosts of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
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Locked. These details give away parts of the title. Mark it as seen to unlock.
Timeline
when each title takes placeBetter Call Saul
2002, 6 years before Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul · S1Jimmy McGill, a lawyer with no clients
2002–2003
Better Call Saul · S2Jimmy tries to play it straight at a big firm
2003
Better Call Saul · S3Jimmy and Chuck at war
2003–2004
Better Call Saul · S4Jimmy off the bar; Mike works for Gus
2004
Better Call Saul · S5Saul Goodman steps in
2004, before Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul · S6, ep. 1–9Jimmy and Kim vs. Howard
Breaking Bad
2008
Breaking Bad · S1A chemistry teacher turns to cooking meth
2008–2009
Breaking Bad · S2Walt and Jesse try to scale up
2009
Breaking Bad · S3A new boss and new risks
2009–2010
Breaking Bad · S4Walt vs. Gus Fring
2010
Breaking Bad · S5The final season, in two parts
After Breaking Bad
right after the Breaking Bad finale
El Camino: A Breaking Bad MovieWhat comes next for Jesse
after El CaminoBetter Call Saul · S6, ep. 10–13Gene, a Cinnabon manager in Omaha
Original text by Sagaticket. Posters: The Movie Database (TMDB); character photos via Wikipedia. This site uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. All trademarks and titles mentioned belong to their respective owners. Streaming availability may change.