Bryan Cranston Reveals True Difference Between Walter White & Saul Goodman With 1 Better Call Saul Line
Bryan Cranston explains how one line from the Better Call Saul finale reveals the fundamental difference between Walter White and Saul Goodman.
Bryan Cranston explains how one line from the Better Call Saul finale reveals the true difference between Walt and Saul. Breaking Bad began centered on Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, turns to cooking crystal meth to secure his family’s financial future. The prequel series, Better Call Saul, shifted the focus to Walt’s criminal lawyer, Saul Goodman, and chronicled his slow descent into the unscrupulous attorney.
Cranston returned as Walt in Better Call Saul season 6 and by the finale, the prequel had caught up to the events of its predecessor and revisited one scene from Breaking Bad’s penultimate episode when Walt and Saul are waiting in Ed’s bunker for their new identities to be created. As he realizes his true nature during their discussion, Walt says to Saul to end the scene, “Oh, so you were always like this.” During a recent interview with Variety, Cranston was asked if the same also applies to Walt. Read his response below:
No. And I believe that to be true. Had he not been given the cancer diagnosis, he wouldn’t have gone into this illegal business. Whereas Saul Goodman was kind of born this way. I think it highlighted, for fans, the difference between the two main characters of their independent shows.
Better Call Saul’s Finale Line Sums Up The Difference Between Walt & Saul
As Cranston explains, the line spoken to Saul by Walt perfectly sums up the difference between the two primary protagonists of their respective shows. On one hand, Walt was a respected scientist who co-founded Gray Matter, though he sold his shares before it became a billion-dollar company, which he always regretted and compensated for by creating a drug empire. But if it wasn’t for his cancer diagnosis, Walt would have never gone into a life a crime, which at first, was to provide for his family. Saul, on the other hand, “was kind of born this way,” as Cranston says.
At a young age, Jimmy couldn’t stand seeing his father being taken advantage of by scam artists, which taught him a lesson about the world being populated by wolves and sheep, so he starts stealing money from the cash register at his father’s store. In his teenage years, Jimmy continued scamming to earn money, including separate scams that earned him the nickname “Slippin’ Jimmy” and required him to invent the alias “Saul Goodman.” The line from the Better Call Saul finale, delivered perfectly by Cranston, succinctly sums up this fundamental difference between the two characters.
