Aaron Paul is back as Jesse Pinkman in a teaser for an upcoming Breaking Bad-themed Super Bowl commercial for chips brand PopCorners. Paul played Pinkman, a junkie turned meth cook, from 2008 to 2013 on the critically acclaimed show Breaking Bad. Alongside Bryan Cranston's Walter White/Heisenberg, Pinkman was one of the two lead characters on the series, which follows the pair as they navigate the gritty criminal underworld of Albuquerque, New Mexico as the best meth cooks in the game. Paul returned to the role in 2019 for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which focused on Pinkman's life following the events of Breaking Bad.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Paul will return to his breakout role in a Super Bowl commercial where he is seen munching on PopCorners chips in the familiar setting of the New Mexico desert, where many of Breaking Bad's most memorable moments took place. Check out the commercial's short teaser below:
During the teaser, which is set to the Breaking Bad theme music, Pinkman answers a call and asks "What's up?" It's likely the person on the other end of the call is his partner Walter White considering Pinkman is wearing the duo's patented cooking attire, there's an empty lawn chair next to him, and the snack brand already shared a tweet featuring Cranston in his Heisenberg attire and holding the same bag of PopCorners chips.
Will Vince Gilligan Continue The Breaking Bad Universe?
During and since its five-year run on AMC, Breaking Bad has gained a cult following as viewers continue to dissect the show years after the finale aired in 2013. One of the things many appreciated about Vince Gilligan's two masterful creations, Breaking Bad and it's prequel/sequel Better Call Saul, is that they weren't dragged on by greedy executives and producers looking to squeeze every dollar they could out of the intellectual property. The five and six-year runs of the two shows exhibit the impressive restraint of the creative team when considering how successful and well-liked Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul were.
There is no Breaking Bad universe without the mind of Gilligan, so his participation would be crucial to the prospects of any future projects. Unfortunately, Gilligan, who created both shows and directed the sequel movie El Camino, has said that he currently has no plans to do any other Breaking Bad-related stories, saying that he wants to prove to himself that he's not a one-trick pony and can find success outside his comfort zone. Gilligan will get the chance he's looking for to prove he can be successful away from the deserts of New Mexico with a new sci-fi show created by himself and starring Better Call Saul alum Rhea Seehorn, who played Kim Wexler. The project received a two-season order from Apple TV+.
Peter Gould, who produced Breaking Bad and co-created Better Call Saul with Gilligan, echoed Gilligan's statements about wanting to find success elsewhere, but also said "who knows" how the team would feel about a return to Albuquerque in a few years. Gilligan also left the backdoor open for a return by admitting that he made the same claims about not returning to the universe after Breaking Bad ended, and he didn't follow through on that one. The strongest possibility for a return would be a prequel about the rise of Gustavo Fring that could explore his early life in Chile and other intriguing moments that were hinted at during the shows. Giancarlo Esposito, who played Gus, has expressed interest in returning to his cunning drug lord character for such a prequel.
Source: EW