Aaron Paul Will Officially Star In The 'Breaking Bad' Movie, Yo!
At least one major star has committed to an upcoming movie based on the beloved AMC series, 'Breaking Bad,' and more could be on the way.
November 6 was a busy night in America, so it's okay if you missed the memo that Vince Gilligan is writing and directing a Breaking Bad movie. The more exciting news came the next day, anyway. Slash Film exclusively confirmed Aaron Paul will return for the Breaking Bad movie and it's *officially* about what happens to Jesse Pinkman after the series finale. Slash Film didn't name its "independent source," but the site reports Paul is 100 percent back to portray the iconic character. Iconic catchphrases and all.
Bryan Cranston may have been the series lead, but Paul's breakout role as Pinkman is just as memorable. He won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2010, 2012, and 2014. For the record, he was also nominated in 2009 and 2013, and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2014. In addition to the actor's mind-blowing work on the show, his mix of humor and pathos brought more dimensions to Jesse Pinkman than the writers ever expected. Plus, the actor is beloved. The way he has embraced Breaking Bad fans and gushed about his wife on Instagram basically created the cult of Aaron Paul.
Making Pinkman the star of the Breaking Bad movie is a smart decision creatively — but also financially. Fans would do anything to see his next act now that he's free from the tyranny of Walter White.
As Slash Film pointed out, Gilligan has always wanted to tell the rest of Pinkman's story. Not long after the finale aired in 2013, the creator told the website "My personal feeling is that he got away" from Albuquerque and everything that comes with it. But it wouldn't be that simple.
"The most likely thing, as negative as this sounds, is that they’re going to find this kid’s fingerprints all over this lab and they’re going to find him within a day or a week or a month," Gilligan said. "And he’s still going to be on the hook for the murder of two federal agents. But yeah, even though that’s the most likely outcome, the way I see it is that he got away and got to Alaska, changed his name, and had a new life."
Gilligan continued, "You want that for the kid. He deserves it." Both extremely true.
At some point, Pinkman became the damaged heart of the series. Knowing his chapter almost ended stuck in the basement of a Neo-Nazi was heartbreaking, and the emotional, open-ended nature of his escape was a relief to viewers.
Even with a plot and a major star attached, there are no more details available on the Breaking Bad movie. Seriously, there's no title, no other cast members have been announced, and there's no release date. We don't even know if it's a big-screen adaptation, made for TV film, or if it will go direct to streaming! Still, after five long years without Breaking Bad, any amount of news should invigorate fans. It's bothersome that Cranston isn't on board yet, but he doesn't really need to be, since Walt died in the series finale. He could appear in flashbacks, or even hallucinations, but it's not a requirement.
Meanwhile, AMC's Better Call Saul absolutely rules. It's different from Breaking Bad, for sure, but it's not unlike the earliest seasons of the show. It's a more nuanced, arguably more tragic character study — like if Breaking Bad was slow but had the same level of artistry. BCS is a prequel to Breaking Bad, and this movie is a sequel, but it's not hard to believe there could be a crossover in the future.
Though maybe that is too much to hope for right now, yo.
