Breaking Bad Star Says El Camino Movie Was so Secretive They Didn’t Get a Script

Breaking Bad star Matt Jones, who reprises his role as Badger in followup movie El Camino, says the project was so secretive writer-director Vince Gilligan filmed fake scenes and restricted access to scripts.

“I am in the movie. But I have no idea what happens,” Jones told Fair Game. “I honestly don’t know, because I only again read the scenes that I’m in.”

Asked if the cast participated in a table read, Jones said, “No, no, we didn’t.” He then explained the stars were smuggled into hotels under fake names and were semi-disguised for outdoor shoots.

“Actually, they couldn’t even send me a script. We stayed in hotels under pseudonyms. Mine was Jean-Luc Picard, I’m not kidding,” said Jones, whose Badger is a noted Star Trek fan. “We had to wear robes over our costumes if we were outside, so nobody could shoot from a camera from far away.”

El Camino sees Badger reunited with friend and fugitive Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), wanted for his ties to meth kingpin Walter White (Bryan Cranston).

Will Breaking Bad fans be saddened by the events of El Camino? “I honestly don’t know. Honestly, I really don’t know,” Jones said. “And I know that even Vince was playing — he’s a tricky guy. I think he was fooling even people involved in the thing and adding in scenes that weren’t there and were there, you know what I mean? I don’t really, honestly, know what’s exactly in the movie.”

The movie, premiering on Netflix Oct. 11, picks up where the Breaking Bad finale, “Felina,” left off: with Jesse on the run behind the wheel of the 1978 Chevrolet El Camino he used to speed away from a bullet riddled white supremacist compound.

Paul previously told the New York Times he was contacted by Gilligan roughly two years ago with a pitch for a sequel movie that would reveal what happened to Jesse after his escape from captivity in Breaking Bad. Because El Camino was put together so quietly, the press only learned of its existence after the project had already wrapped.

“The movie had already happened and was in the can. It was done,” Paul said. And to keep it quiet, Paul explained he was shooting a “small little indie out in New Mexico,” filming home of Breaking Bad, and “no one second-guessed” his fibs.

“I definitely had people asking, ‘Are you doing Better Call Saul?’” Paul said of the spinoff-slash-prequel series that at times acts as Breaking Bad sequel. “And I’d go, ‘Hey, man, I wish I was. But they’re on hiatus right now.’”

The Netflix Television Event El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie reunites fans with Jesse Pinkman (Emmy-winner Aaron Paul). In the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, Jesse must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future. This gripping thriller is written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad. The movie is produced by Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Charles Newirth, Diane Mercer and Aaron Paul, in association with Sony Pictures Television.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie releases Friday, Oct. 11 on Netflix.