Aaron Paul is finally doing promotion for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, a project that spent much of its existence in secrecy. Though there were plenty of rumors and reports about the film, nobody involved made any official announcements. Bob Odenkirk even said Vince Gilligan and crew completed the whole thing without anyone knowing. It wasn’t until late August when it leaked that a Breaking Bad movie was coming through the pipeline and would premiere on Netflix in October. Shortly after, a teaser trailer debuted.
Since that all broke in the midst of the 2019 D23 Expo, it seemed as if Netflix’s plan for a surprise Breaking Bad reveal (preferably on a day when Disney wasn’t dominating the entertainment headlines) were foiled. Paul himself essentially confirmed as such, passively aggressively going after the New York Times on Twitter to “thank” them for ruining the secret. But now that the cat’s firmly out of the bag and everyone is looking forward to El Camino’s premiere, Paul is now getting in on the promotion.
Paul took to his personal Instagram account to share a picture of Jesse circa Breaking Bad (this is not a new still from El Camino) to get his followers hyped for the movie. Check it out in the space below:
El Camino, of course, picks up some time after the Breaking Bad series finale and features Jesse on the run as he tries to carve out a longterm future for himself. The trailer revealed the DEA remains hot on Jesse’s heels, hoping to bring him in so he can answer for his crimes. Jesse’s whereabouts at the beginning of El Camino are purposely unknown to the audience. Given the intense secrecy surrounding the project, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if viewers didn’t know what Jesse was up to until they actually started watching El Camino. Arguably, Breaking Bad is a recognizable enough property to get away with a marketing campaign like that; the teaser was extremely effective just by name-dropping Jesse, so there isn’t any real need to show him. This might be a case where playing up the mystery is a better course of action.
Since Breaking Bad signed off the air, Paul has added projects like The Path and Westworld to his résumé, but he’ll always be known as Jesse Pinkman. His career defining role netted him three Primetime Emmys, and fans have been eager to see him return to this world. There’s been plenty of talk about Jesse appearing on Better Call Saul (he may have already been referenced through dialogue), but viewers are going to see Jesse in El Camino first. Since (at least chronologically within the franchise), this will likely be the end for Jesse’s story, hopefully he gets a happy and poignant sendoff.
More: El Camino: What The Breaking Bad Movie Title Means
Source: Aaron Paul
