As Entertainment Weekly continues to release more of its Breaking Bad anniversary issue online, AMC’s marketing machine is kicking into high gear ahead of Better Call Saul‘s season four premiere in August. The first teaser trailer for Jimmy McGill’s (Bob Odenkirk) triumphant return dropped on Monday, which was promptly followed by EW‘s interview with the spin-off’s star. Like his fellow Breaking Bad cast members, Odenkirk shared the how and why of his favorite scene from the 10-year-old series, but he also revealed why it’s causing him dread prior to Better Call Saul‘s return.
The actor’s favorite Breaking Bad scene? Saul Goodman’s first appearance in season two’s “Better Call Saul,” of course:
“It was so goddamn well-written,” recalls Odenkirk. “I loved that first scene where he introduces himself. It was so different in tone from anything I had done… I couldn’t believe how much Saul there was. I’m aghast, alarmed, at my own confidence in playing the character. I mean, I didn’t know what the f— I was doing. I was just taking a run at it, and more than half expecting to be told, ‘You can go home now. We’re going to get a real actor.’ I was amazed at how completely I embraced the character and dug in. The monologue is really fun, where he’s telling Walter White that he’s a fraud and that it’s a front. And he’s just enjoying himself. That was really fun to play, and I fully understood how much fun it was at the time.”
For those of you in need of a quick refresher, Better Call Saul‘s Jimmy ultimately becomes Saul, and has the previous three seasons have shown, he’s slowly but surely en route. Frankly, this terrifies Odenkirk because Vince Gilligan and the writers “made [Jimmy] such a likable guy” in the spin-off. “It’s not a completely different person, but I really like the guy,” he explained to EW, but now he’s “having to confront the fact that he is becoming Saul, and I don’t like Saul.”
In other words, it sounds like Odenkirk is dreading the loss of Jimmy in exchange for gaining Saul. “If he was my friend,” he concluded, “I would say, ‘Don’t go that route.'”
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
