In this day and age, it’s magical how good the makers of the Breaking Bad movie have been at hiding its many mysteries from the internet. El Camino hits Netflix in just under a month, and yet we only have a vague plot summary (it involves Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman, natch), and it’s unclear how much it will involve Bryan Cranston’s late Walter White, if at all. And that’s on top of whole thing being filmed in secret. On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter broke some late news that probably should have been obvious from the start: On top of bringing back Charles Baker’s beloved Skinny Pete, it’s also exhuming Matt Jones’ Badger.
Badger and Skinny Pete were, of course, Jesse’s two top screw-ups — low-level dealers who undeservedly found themselves peddling the best meth in town. In the dozen episodes in which they appeared, they made Jesse look bad, and they definitely got high on their own supply. So of course, the fact that Badger and Skinny Pete are back for the movie means they didn’t die — unless the movie is riddled with flashbacks, which may explain why Cranston’s (potential) presence.
In the six years since Breaking Bad ended, Jones has been busy. He’s done over 50 episodes of Mom, got in shape for the comedy Let’s Get Physical, even worked on the other side of the law in a recurring role on NCIS. He was also almost on the Dwight Schrute Office spin-off that never happened. So welcome Jones back to the role that made his name. Hopefully Badger turned his life around and is working in the gig economy or something.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie hits Netflix on Oct. 11.