Breaking Bad Actor Talks Feeling "Very Much Like a Guest" After Cast Reunion

The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards took place last weekend and featured some exciting wins and surprise reunions. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, RJ Mitte, Betsy Brandt, and Jonathan Banks all came onstage to celebrate the anniversary of their cast's SAG win. They did a pretty hilarious bit that resulted in Odenkirk saying, "No, no fu*cking way I'm doing this cheesy thing where you say each letter of the word, I'm not doing it." The whole thing got a lot of laughs and Odenkirk talked about the moment while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During the interview, he admitted he felt like a "guest" during his days making the show, and shared a funny story about working with Cranston.

"They were very good people to include me because I really was popping in. I felt very much like a guest in their company," Odenkirk shared. "Maybe toward the end, I felt more part of the show. But the truth is they established that show and everything about it – the tone and the integrity of the work – before I ever showed up."

"Bryan was talking about a scene he was doing. And I'm like, 'Yeah, but your character and Gus are friends, right?'... "[Cranston] looked at me – this was the third season – and he goes, 'You've never watched the show, have you?' ... "I just laughed," Odenkirk recalled.

Better Call Saul's Unfortunate Emmy Record:

Of course, Odeknkirk would go on to star in his own Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul, which came to an end in 2022. Over the course of its six seasons, Better Call Saul received 53 Emmy nominations, but never won any of the awards, officially making it the most-nominated show without any wins. This is especially surprising considering Breaking Bad earned 16 Emmys throughout its five-season run. Better Call Saul writer, Thomas Schnauz, was having some fun with the record-breaking news, and he's not the only one. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul composer, Dave Porter, about his most recent project, Marvel Studios' Echo. During the interview, we asked if Porter had talked to any of his Better Call Saul colleagues about the losses.

"We did it," Porter joked when we brought up the record. "I actually haven't," he added when asked if he's talked to any of his co-workers about the Emmys. "But I've seen some of the witty responses running around by my colleagues online for sure. And yeah, here's my witty response, and it's not going to be nearly as good as our witty writers, but my response is two words: The Wire." 

Of course, The Wire is considered by many to be one of the greatest shows in history, but throughout its five seasons, the show only ever scored two Emmy nominations and zero wins, both for writing.  

"I can promise you no one in the Better Call Saul writers' room was thinking about Emmys when they wrote the show," Porter added. "You know what I mean? You can't spend your time thinking about that. So much of that depends on politics and timing and a million other things. And while I'm certainly grateful, I think that Breaking Bad got recognition particularly early on because it was a fragile show very early on. And those early awards, I think, built confidence in the network and everybody else that the show could be something special. But Better Call Saul obviously was what it was to begin with, and was great to begin with, and a known quantity. So I don't think it was super important. Obviously, awards are always nice, but..." 

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are now streaming on Netflix.