By Dante Spado
Better Call Saul, the spinoff show of the award-winning Breaking Bad, is entering its final season in a few months. Throughout the show’s five amazing seasons there have been tons of character crossovers from the flagship show. Characters I never expected to see, such as Gustavo Fring and Hank Schrader, have popped up in Saul Goodman’s origin story, either with major, season-long roles or just sticking around for a few episodes.
However, there’s one character that has yet to make an appearance, and it’s one whom fans are dying to see again. That character would be Heisenberg himself, Walter White.
But should Walt appear in the last season of Better Call Saul? Truthfully, I don’t think he should. Walt and Saul’s paths don’t cross until season two of Breaking Bad. Walt’s involvement in the meth business is starting to blossom, and one of his dealers, Badger, gets picked up by the cops. Walt needs Saul’s legal shenanigans to get Badger out of any trouble that could result from his arrest. This is the first time they meet, and they have no prior interactions.
At this point in time, Saul is already an established player in this world. He knows Mike and it’s implied that he has an idea of who Gustavo is when he gives Walt Gus’ contact information. There also seems to be a rapport between Hank and Saul when they bump into each other outside of Badger’s meeting room in the jail. It makes sense to expand on Saul’s connections to these characters in his back story. Fleshing out his involvement with Mike, Gus and Hank gives us a better understanding of how he went from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman.
Walt, on the other hand, can’t deepen any connections. Saul has been rooted in the criminal underworld for years, and Walt is just emerging on the scene when the two meet. During the events of Better Call Saul, Walt is just a teacher and he may be working at the car wash. Without speeding up the events of the last Saul season to match Breaking Bad (about a year and a half time difference at the end of season five), the only way Walt could appear is in some minor cameo at the car wash or school. Maybe Saul gets his Cadillac and needs to get it washed, resulting in him going to A1 and seeing Walt as his cashier. Could that be fun? Maybe. But it certainly doesn’t add the meaningful depth to Saul’s story that other characters have.
Additionally, Bryan Cranston has already reprised the role in El Camino, the sequel movie about Jesse Pinkman after he breaks out of the Neo-Nazis’ camp. There’s a really nice flashback scene where Walt and Jesse talk about what Jesse should do with his life. Obviously, their relationship deteriorates over the course of the show, but at that moment in time, it was sweet to see Walt care about Jesse and his future. This scene added depth to Jesse’s character and story and acted as motivation for him to improve his life throughout the course of El Camino and get the happy ending he deserved.
I just don’t think any scene like this can be added to Better Call Saul. Ultimately, the show is about Saul, and I firmly believe that Walt doesn’t need to be involved in the story. We already know how they meet and that they make tons of money for a while until the whole thing falls apart and Saul has to go into hiding. What more can be added? I love Bryan Cranston and I love Walter White. I just don’t want to see him show up for the sake of fan service.
However, if he can appear in a meaningful way that serves the story, I’m all for it. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the geniuses behind both shows, have already mentioned that the ending of Better Call Saul will change how we see Breaking Bad forever, so there very well could be some storylines that Saul was involved in while he’s in Breaking Bad that were off-screen and we never knew about. Perhaps Lalo appears in what would be equivalent to season three/ four of Breaking Bad, and Saul also has to deal with that on top of all the problems that arise with Walter. Thankfully Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are much more experienced and creative than me, and if there’s anyone who can figure out how to add Walt, the character who started it all, into the story, it’s them.