Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul gripped audiences for years, even after they both wrapped production and aired their final episodes. The fan base has continued to grow and remains active in discussing the “Gilliverse” (the name attached to Gilligan’s crime drama franchise created by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan) happenings in other forms of media or out in the wild. Now, in an unexpected twist, they’ve set their eyes on Coyote vs. Acme.
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The new animated/live-action comedy, Coyote Vs. Acme, released August 28, 2026, after being shelved by Warner Brothers for nearly three years. Hitting screens last weekend, the film has already secured the number two spot at the weekend box office – pretty impressive for a movie tha, until recently, was not ever going to see the light of day much less a full theatrical run.
How Coyote Vs. Acme Connects to Breaking Bad
There’s a very specific reason that allows for so much connective tissue between Breaking Bad and the new Looney Tunes movie. The film follows the iconic Wile E. Coyote as he hires a floundering billboard lawyer (played by Will Forte) to sue the ACME Corporation for the sale of faulty products spanning decades. The two underdogs team up to become the most unlikely of friends as they challenge the giant that is ACME – and it all takes place in: Albuquerque, New Mexico, the same location as the events of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Albuquerque isn’t exactly the largest place to be filming one of the best and most-recognizable television franchises ever created – meaning that it was inevitable there’d be some overlap on display in Coyote vs. Acme. The most notable one? The Dog House Drive-In – a known location for mischief in both Gilliverse series. The real-life restaurant off of Route 66 is a frequent stop for Jesse Pinkman – especially during rough patches. The drive-in is also featured in Better Call Saul as a meeting place for suspicious business deals.
You can check out footage of the diner on both shows below:
Still, the real life drive-in, which is a staple tourist destination for Gilliverse fans, is hard to miss in one Coyote Vs. Acme scene. On its own, this wouldn’t mean the Coyote Vs. Acme team was trying to pay homage to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul; however, this is hardly the only connection between the two movie and the Gilliverse shows.
The other connections aren’t physical, they’re character-based homages. In particular, viewers have noted significant similarities between Saul Goodman and Forte’s Kevin Avery, the down-on-his-luck lawyer in the new film. From gimmicky billboards and advertising attempts to shady charisma, it’s not far-fetched to believe Forte based some of Avery on what Bob Odenkirk was doing with Saul.
ACME Corporation’s lawyer (played by John Cena) offers a hefty settlement to the underdog team, but is met with a fight – when Wile E. Coyote turns it down and kicks off a David vs. Goliath legal battle (something Saul Goodman found himself caught in on multiple occasions). While it’s easy to write-off the connections as a small city hosting a major movie production that resulted in some fun easter eggs and homages, some fans truly are convinced the overlap was intentional and that it’s more fun to imagine the film takes place in the Gilliverse.
Now, only one question remains: should Coyote Vs. Acme get some form of spinoff or sequel, will that one include references and homages to Gilligan’s latest series Pluribus – which also takes place in Albuquerque? At the time Coyote Vs. Acme was filmed, way back in 2022, Pluribus hadn’t even been fully written yet, much less aired. Now that both projects are out there, we’ll have to wait and see if additional connections are identified by Gilliverse/Looney Tune shared universe believers.
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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
