Better Call Saul season 5: Could El Camino movie impact Gene?

Within the span of just over a month, we’re going to get a chance to see El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie in action. Almost everything about this project is strange and remarkable: It was filmed and prepared in secret, really to the point where we just learned about it late last month. It’s also premiering on Netflix, which is a bit of an oddity given that AMC is the network that actually broadcasts Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul both.

For the sake of this article, the question that we’re wondering is a fairly simple one: How will El Camino play into the current story of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman … and will it at all?

It goes without saying that in the “present”-day action of Better Call Saul, there’s no way for it to have a role. Jimmy McGill has yet to meet Jesse Pinkman, let alone Walter White or some other characters from Breaking Bad. Yet, there is also Gene to think about and that’s where things get a little bit more interesting.

Because our appearances of Gene on the show are so short, we know very little about him. We know where he works and that his life is quiet and menial … but how much does he actually know about where Jesse Pinkman is? Does he keep tabs on that world at all? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that someone from El Camino could turn up in that timeline, or at least that Gene is aware of some of what happens already.

Yet, we’d be surprised if any of it surfaces in a way more than just a small Easter egg. We think it’s risky to combine these worlds too much, especially when you think a little bit about what Better Call Saul already has on its plate with Kim Wexler. There are a lot of people (ourselves included) that want to see Gene and Kim spend time together down the road — given that Kim apparently has some ties to Kansas City (she is a Royals fan), there’s a universe where she turns up in Omaha at some point. For Jesse Pinkman, that’s a little more unlikely. If Gene spends time with both, it’s almost impossible to believe.

So while some sort of Better Call Saul / El Camino tie-in is possible, we’d prefer it to be brief and a wink-and-a-nudge more than something full-fledged — the same goes for big-time Breaking Bad cameos in Better Call Saul to begin with. We know that Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston are willing to do them, but that doesn’t mean they are needed.

Do you want to see Gene’s storyline connect to El Camino in some way? Be sure to share in the comments below! (Photo: AMC.)