One of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood was finally revealed recently, when Netflix announced that it had teamed with “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan on a new sequel film, “El Camino.” After being rumored for months, it was finally announced, with a release date coming next month. But for Gilligan, this was a project that had been ruminating for a lot longer than a year and change.
Speaking to THR, the writer-director explained that he didn’t initially have plans for a sequel to his Emmy-winning series. Instead, it all came naturally, as his ending for the series led to thoughts about what might come next.
READ MORE: ‘Breaking Bad’ Movie ‘El Camino’: Netflix Reveals First Look Teaser & Poster
“I didn’t really tell anybody about it, because I wasn’t sure I would ever do anything with it,” Gilligan said. “But I started thinking to myself, ‘What happened to Jesse?’ You see him driving away. And to my mind, he went off to a happy ending.”
He continued, “But as the years progressed, I thought, ‘What did that ending — let’s just call it an ending, neither happy, nor sad — what did it look like?'”
Well, we still don’t know exactly what the film looks like, but from what we know, “El Camino” tells the story of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) after he escaped imprisonment at the end of “Breaking Bad.” We don’t know exactly what follows, but we do know that at least 10 or so characters from the classic series are set to make their returns.
Gilligan admits that the film is really for the fans of the TV series, revealing that newbies probably won’t get the same enjoyment out of the film as those who are steeped in the lore. But that’s not for lack of trying, as the filmmaker said that he would have loved the ability to tell the story he wanted to while also attracting new fans.
“We don’t slow down to explain things to a non-‘Breaking Bad’ audience,” he said. “I thought early on in the writing of the script, ‘Maybe there’s a way to have my cake and eat it too. Maybe there’s a way to explain things to the audience.’ If there was a way to do that, it eluded me.”
Fans of “Breaking Bad” aren’t going to be sad about that, at all. But what they might be upset over is the fact that this marks the end of Jesse Pinkman’s story. And with “Better Call Saul” entering its home stretch, it appears that Gilligan is ready to close the book on “Breaking Bad.” As for what’s next, he’s not sure, but the filmmaker knows that it’s going to be different.
“Personally, I’d love to figure out something different, which at this point would be, God, not another antihero,” Gilligan admitted. “Is there something else I can do? Is there another story I can tell? But I’ve got to tell you, it’s harder to write a really engaging good guy than it is a really engaging bad guy.”
“El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” premieres on Netflix on October 11 and will arrive on AMC sometime in 2020.