'Better Call Saul' Season 2 News, Spoilers: Creators Dish On Scrapped 'Breaking Bad' Cameo, Gus Fring's Arrival
The surprising season 2 finale of AMC's "Better Call Saul" was supposed to include a cameo from one of the main characters in cult favorite crime drama "Breaking Bad."
But while the cameo would have delighted fans of "Breaking Bad," the spinoff's writers and creators ultimately decided to do away with it as the cameo would have distracted from the "terror and agony" of one of the main characters in the scene.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, "Better Call Saul" creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould said that they had planned a major cameo appearance by "Breaking Bad" character Marie Schrader (played by Betsy Brandt), the wife of Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris).
Get Our Latest News for FREE
According to Gilligan, the plan was to have Marie be the technician who assists Chuck (Michael McKean) when he is getting a CAT scan.
"I thought it would be a great and organic opportunity to bring back one of our fundamental 'Breaking Bad' characters, and Peter and the other writers rightly talked me out of it," Gilligan told EW.
According to the "BCS" creator, while they would have loved to have Brandt back, her cameo would have distracted viewers from the big moment, when Chuck, who is allergic to electricity, is going through the painful experience of getting a CAT scan. The cameo would have, as he explained, dulled the dramatic moment.
"And you can't do a Betsy Brandt scene without having a great Marie moment, and how are we going to make that a great Marie moment and still keep the focus, as Vince says, on Chuck?" Gould added.
Gilligan and Gould have also spoken up about the expectation, gleaned from the "Fring's Back" hidden message in the season 2 episode titles, that Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), the drug kingpin from "Breaking Bad," was supposed to appear in the season 2 finale.
"It was never the intention for Gus to be in that episode," Gilligan told Hitfix.
And fans shouldn't expect the villain to appear right away in season 3, either.
According to the "Better Call Saul" boss, Fring is a person who "casts a very long shadow" and has many minions working for him.
"He is not a guy who reveals himself very quickly," he added.
The official release date for season 3 of "Better Call Saul" has not been announced.
