Better Call Saul season 6 brings Jimmy McGill’s legal shenanigans to a presumably dramatic conclusion. Will Bryan Cranston’s Walter White join him?
Will Walter White come knocking in Better Call Saul season 6? And, if so, how could Bryan Cranston’s meth maestro make his presence felt? Through 5 seasons of Breaking Bad, audiences accompanied beleaguered high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, from Y-front embarrassment to the highest peak of organized crime, and though many questioned whether Better Call Saul could follow such an act, Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill has proved more than worthy. Better Call Saul season 6 will mark one last drive into the desert, bringing the curtain down on Jimmy’s journey, but launching a Saul Goodman-shaped missile into the era of Breaking Bad.
Better Call Saul has nobly resisted the burning temptation to have Bryan Cranston’s Walter White or Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman cameo thus far. Numerous Breaking Bad alumni have had the misfortune of crossing paths with Jimmy – the likes of Gus Fring, Hank Schrader and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle – but Vince Gilligan is yet to call upon his former leading duo. Season 6 presents one last chance to break that rule, and the closer Better Call Saul draws to its parent series, the more likely bumping into Bryan Cranston’s soon-to-be Heisenberg becomes. A Jesse appearance can be ruled out due to Aaron Paul looking too mature (he barely got away with El Camino), but a Walter White cameo remains firmly on the table for Better Call Saul‘s final season.
It could happen, with Better Call Saul season 6 offering Walter White three clear paths into its narrative. The simplest (but most unlikely) comes via Better Call Saul‘s main 2008 timeline. At this point, Walt will be sullenly teaching apathetic teens and watching his son eat a week’s worth of cereal in a single morning. Walt also can’t interact with Jimmy, Mike or Gus, otherwise they’d recognize him in Breaking Bad. But perhaps Cranston’s chemist walks by in the background of a Better Call Saul season 6 scene, bumping into Jimmy briefly, though not so long either would remember months down the road. Or maybe Walt shares a brief conversation with Kim Wexler/Nacho Varga/another character we don’t see in Breaking Bad. Though audiences would likely get a thrill out of seeing Bryan Cranston back playing his iconic Breaking Bad antihero, this style of cameo carries little purpose beyond nostalgia – something Better Call Saul has actively avoided.
The second option is Walter White joining Jimmy McGill during Better Call Saul‘s Gene timeline. These black-and-white sequences take place following Jimmy’s escape from Albuquerque in Breaking Bad, but the exact timeline has been left deliberately vague. Better Call Saul‘s Gene scenes could, therefore, run simultaneous to Walter White’s New Hampshire exile between Breaking Bad season 5’s “Granite State” and “Felina.” Walt ultimately broke that exile to make a last stand in New Mexico, but did he drop by on “Gene” first? The runaway Heisenberg kept in contact with Ed (the guy who arranges these clandestine getaways), so could’ve easily discovered where Saul was hiding. The pair could then enjoy(?) one final meeting ahead of Walter White’s impending death – a chance for Jimmy to right some wrongs, or Walt to make amends. Think of it as The Book of Walter White meets The Goodmandalorian – a one-episode, galaxy-shaking team-up between Vince Gilligan’s two main leads.
The third – and most natural – place for Walter White to cameo in Better Call Saul season 6 comes at the very end of Jimmy’s prequel timeline. Exactly where Better Call Saul‘s story wraps up in relation to Breaking Bad remains to be seen, but for symmetry’s sake, Gilligan could finish with the moment Walter White first enters the offices of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad season 2. That would require a brief cameo from Walt, silently walking into the room as “Mr. Mayhew,” incognito in his shades-and-baseball-cap combo. A “bookend” cameo of this ilk would straddle the thin line between subtlety and significance, giving Walter White his moment in Better Call Saul – but only as garnish to Jimmy McGill’s journey.
About The Author
