Just when it seemed like Breaking Bad fans would never again see Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the characters reunited once again for a new Super Bowl ad. Ahead of the big game on Sunday, PopCorners released the new spot, featuring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul as their Breaking Bad characters. The commercial spoofs a scene from early on into the AMC series with Raymond Cruz also returning to reprise his role as Tuco Salamanca, the show's first major antagonist.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Cranston and Paul revealed how the commercial came to be. Cranston says that the Breaking Bad team has always been protective of the show, so it wasn't an immediate yes with doing the spot. But they were willing to listen to the pitch that the PopCorners people had in mind, and that's when the actors figured that it'd be worth revisiting those characters one last time.
"The truth is is that the PopCorners folks came to us and said, 'We have an idea,'" Cranston explains. "And they pitched us with the idea. And we're very, very protective of the show and the characters. So we listened. We basically laughed and we thought it was really good,"
Paul adds, "It was just so spot-on. Their pitch to us was perfect. They said, 'We want it to look like an episode of Breaking Bad. This is like something that was in a time capsule."
Cranston then reveals how Paul suggested that Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan come back as well to direct the commercial. PopCorners then hired Gilligan, and just for another added layer of authenticity, they also brought in the screen-used RV from TV series to be featured in the ad. Cranston says that they also watched back footage from the show to make the parody feel as much like Breaking Bad as possible.
"We reviewed the scenes that we were emulating from the series and tweaked the dialogue just a little to make sure that the positioning was right, the dialogue was right. And we use the real RV that we used from the show," Cranston says.
Aaron Paul Was Thrilled to Revisit That World
Aaron Paul also said that it was "so nice to be back" in the Breaking Bad world, even for a short commercial that isn't canon to the TV show (we presume). The actor reflects on how it was that show that catapulted him to stardom, allowing him to enjoy all of the successes he's had since.
"I am so damn proud of it, to be a part of this company," Paul explains. "It's just such a fun ad. I mean, trying to make a name for myself in this industry, I did endless amounts of commercials and you just hope to make the cut."
The ad will air during the Super Bowl, but if you want to watch it now, you can do so by checking out the video below.