Breaking Bad: Bob Odenkirk is “Thankful” Vince Gilligan Trashed His Original Plan for Saul Goodman
Breaking Bad made a legacy out of its characters and storylines but the saga had a much greater impact on Bob Odenkirk than we are aware of.
Vince Gilligan had a plan when he started penning the script of Breaking Bad. The AMC drama had a beginning, a middle, and a gruesome end and Gilligan knew who was supposed to live or die or become the man of the hour. The creator also knew that there was only one man on earth who could possibly play the role of Walter White in all its glory and no amount of studio money could convince him otherwise.
For such a self-assured man, Vince Gilligan sure faltered when it came to creating a story arc for Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman. Fortunately, however, it was Gilligan’s brilliant eye for detail that made him change one key detail in his original blueprint for Breaking Bad, and thus forever change pop culture history.
Breaking Bad Invited Saul Goodman Into the Picture
The cat-and-mouse game that Vince Gilligan played with his show’s characters was, in hindsight, a clear indication of his underlying devilish plans for their future. Breaking Bad would never survive the fallout from the end of its leading characters and Gilligan always planned to end the series on a high note – with the two leads going out in a blaze of glory.
However, it was the morally dubious arc of the criminal defense attorney, Saul Goodman, who threw him for a loop. Gilligan never expected the character to serve in a storyline that extended beyond 4 episodes, let alone build his own dynasty in a spinoff. Bob Odenkirk‘s character was originally only supposed to appear in a limited arc capacity.
However, just like Vince Gilligan could comprehend Bryan Cranston‘s hidden potential for greatness by working with him in only one episode of The X-Files, the creator could also realize how ending the arc of Saul Goodman after 4 episodes would be a huge mistake. His revised script gave more leeway for Odenkirk’s character to grow and flourish, eventually going on to create his own legacy in Better Call Saul.
Vince Gilligan Opened Up a Spot for Saul Goodman
For Bob Odenkirk, the memory of Saul Goodman is almost like a recurring dream of a past life. It lingers in his mind even though it comes to a definitive end. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul comprised 13 years of his life, and Vince Gilligan’s double whammy lifted the actor out of relative obscurity and made him famous all over the world.
However, after Odenkirk ended his run as Saul Goodman in 2022 with Better Call Saul, the actor revealed a surprising truth. His character was never supposed to last as long as he did. Even beyond the multiple threats to Saul’s life and the tragic end that always awaits at the end of his shady line of work, Odenkirk reveals that Vince Gilligan had never played out Saul’s arc to last beyond the first 3 or 4 episodes.
In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Odenkirk said:
I was supposed to do 3 or 4 episodes… they asked. And then it turned into my whole life. And I’m thankful for it. [The finale] plays out really beautifully. The writers just did such a great job. So I’ll always be thankful for that role, the role of a lifetime.
In hindsight, it seems almost impossible to comprehend a world devoid of Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman and his legacy-making series, Better Call Saul. But call it fate or serendipity, the character was meant for the silver screen before eventually getting elevated into the annals of pop culture history and it has been so.
