Breaking Bad's colorful cast of characters, which includes Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, was a major reason for the show's success, and Bob Odenkirk's Saul Goodman makes his debut in season 2, eventually going on to lead his own spinoff, Better Call Saul.
In an excerpt from Saul Goodman V. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Critical Companion to Better Call Saul by Alan Sepinwall (via EW), Gould recalls an AMC executive requesting that the Goodman character be cut from the show. The request was part of a notes session during the chaotic writing process for Breaking Bad season 2, and Gould recalls that Gilligan took a hard stance on keeping the lawyer around. Check out an excerpt from the book about the ordeal below:
We were at that point in the show where we were on a course that we had not expected. We thought that Walt and Jesse were going to be working for Tuco. And then, as you know, we found out that Tuco is not available to us.† So, Tuco is killed early in Season Two. And now, they’re out on their own. We started thinking about what are the problems that you have if you’re a novice drug dealer trying to move all that meth. And one of the basic problems was, what happens if one of your guys gets arrested? So, of course, we’ve already got Badger. And, the thought was, Who would be the lawyer here?
And, at this point — I’ll speak for myself — I didn’t fully understand the tone of the show. I don’t think anybody understood it except for Vince. I think this was Vince feeling out what the show was going to be going forward. So we came up with this idea of this character. And first, in the room, we had a lot of ideas that were crazier even than what we ended up doing. There was one pitch where, when he got paid, he would put the money into a pneumatic tube that went straight to the bank. There were all kinds of crazy pitches like that. And we were just having fun with the character. And I , Vince came in with the name Saul Good. And then, one of the other writers said, “Saul Goodman.” And then, one of the writers said, “What about ‘LWYRUP’ as a license plate?” And so, these started clinging to each other right away.
Really, his creation was all in service of Walt’s story. We weren’t thinking, Here’s an independent character who’s going to have a life of his own. We thought, How does this serve Walt’s story? And how is he different from the other characters we’ve seen? He enjoys himself. He’s very transactional. He’s not violent, obviously. And all those things came, I think, in the architecture of just where we were in the story. Did we think he was going to have a future? Well, I’ll tell you, personally, as I was writing the episode, I got very nervous. I got scared, because I was worried that we were going to break the show by making a character that was too silly — that he was going to be just too big for what I thought was a very grounded show. Grounded in its own way, let’s put it that way. And, my fear was actually enhanced when we had our first notes call with an executive who will remain nameless. Vince and I were on a conference call, and the question came up, basically, “We don’t like this character. Could we start again and come up with a different story for this episode?”
And Vince said, “No.” He was strongly advocating for the script and for the character. And, to their credit, the person or persons on the call backed down, because they had to trust Vince. But, you can think about what an alternative universe would be where we had had to throw that episode out.
Tuco actor Raymond Cruz was not available for a prolonged tenure on Breaking Bad due to his commitments to TNT series The Closer. This resulted in the character being killed off early in season 2.
What Gould's Story Means For Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul Would Never Have Happened
Breaking Bad is widely considered one of the best TV shows of all time, and there's a narrative that claims the show flourished because Gilligan had it all planned in advance. Gould's story highlights that this wasn't the case, and, like most shows, there was a writers' room where a variety of ideas were being thrown around. In fact, Gould reveals later in the book that season 2 had to briefly shut down because the scripts weren't being written fast enough, as well as revealing that the idea of killing Goodman off was regularly floated in the writers' room.
10 Times Saul Goodman Went Way Too Far In Better Call Saul & Breaking Bad
From doctoring papers to eventual death, here’s a list of all the times Saul Goodman’s schemes went too far in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
Goodman, of course, ends up appearing in every subsequent season of Breaking Bad. Two years after the Breaking Bad finale in 2013, Odenkirk reprises his role as Saul in the Better Call Saul spinoff show, which serves as both a prequel and a sequel. Some have praised Better Call Saul as being even better than the original show, but Gould's latest story reveals that there's a world where the spinoff, which ran for six acclaimed seasons, didn't happen at all.
Our Take On Saul Goodman Almost Being Cut From Breaking Bad
Gilligan Made The Right Choice
In addition to strong writing, Breaking Bad excelled as a crime drama because of its memorable characters. Aside from Walt and Jesse, Goodman remains one of the show's standout characters because of his larger-than-life personality and Odenkirk's perfect performance. Odenkirk's Saul Goodman brought some humor to a show that was often quite dark, and he served as an interesting counterpoint to Walt, who is serious and calculating.
Though Breaking Bad surely would have continued to be successful without Goodman, as shown by the quality of season 1, the lawyer's introduction helps to further establish the show's unique tonal balance. Though notes from executives is a necessary part of the TV-making process, Gilligan fighting back against the request to cut Goodman was obviously the right call.
Source: Saul Goodman V. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Critical Companion to Better Call Saul by Alan Sepinwall (via EW)
Breaking Bad
- Release Date
- 2008 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- AMC
- Showrunner
- Vince Gilligan
Cast
Walter White
Jesse Pinkman
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren
- Writers
- Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, Vince Gilligan, George Mastras, Moira Walley-Beckett, Sam Catlin, Thomas Schnauz
- Franchise(s)
- Breaking Bad
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