Widely considered one of the best storytellers in TV right now, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan thought he was also one of the best puzzle-makers when he and Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould used the episode titles of Season 2 as a clue that an appearance from Walter White's former nemesis Gus Fring was on the horizon.(The first letters of each episode spell out "FRINGSBACK.") When asked what that meant for Season 3, star Bob Odenkirk had a fantastic idea for how Breaking Bad's iconic baddie should enter the show.
I'm looking for him. He's coming back. . . . They didn't think everyone would scrutinize the show that closely, and they did it, and the cat's out of the bag. So I imagine he'll be in the first moment. That's what I...Let's go. Let's get to it, right?
While watching Jimmy McGill's nuanced transition from skeezy lawyer to super-skeezy lawyer is definitely worth every bit of attention on its own, Gilligan and Gould have been perfectly laying out how the future world of Breaking Bad plays into Jimmy's rise to Saul-dom, so it's almost impossible not to want more. And while fans are obviously going to clamor for a cameo from Aaron Paul as Jesse or Bryan Cranston as Walt, those don't make a bunch of sense from a narrative perspective. But Fring? This could be the time for Giancarlo Esposito to shine once again, years before Fring lost his face.
And it would be one of the balls-out craziest moments not only from this dual-show universe, but from all of television, if Gus Fring showed up on Better Call Saul in the opening seconds of Season 3. I imagine one small but dedicated section of Twitter would implode, and children would be frightened all over by their parents howling for the rest of the evening. TV viewers love their villains, and it would be fantastic and logical to witness Fring in his sadistic and mysterious element before he and Walt ever crossed paths.
Bob Odenkirk, who shared that thought on Jimmy Kimmel Live, is full of great ideas when it comes to incorporating his former gig with his current one. (If only Mr. Show characters could come into this as well.) I'm sure he doesn't work too hard to sway the writers with his pitches, though he's certainly got the talent and the experience to do so.
We've already gotten to see parts of Gus Fring's organization, as well as his rivals, on Better Call Saul. For one, Mike is practically the co-lead, and Tio and Tuco Salamanca have made their marks for sure. (Some of those marks were on Mike's weathered face.) And there were plans to bring Betsy Brandt's Marie Schrader into the finale, which was thought to be when Fring might appear, but that idea was scrapped for the sake of drama. Don't scrap Gus!
Better Call Saul isn't set to return to AMC for Season 3 until early 2017, but there is more than enough TV to keep you busy until then, as you can see in our fall premiere schedule.
