Bryan Cranston says Super Bowl commercial will probably, maybe be his last appearance as Walter White
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a PopCorners spokesperson
There’s some sort of poetic irony to the fact that Bryan Cranston’s last appearance as the fearsome chemistry-teacher-turned-kingpin Walter White may be coming not with his death in the final moments of Breaking Bad, or his cameo in followup film El Camino, or even his recent reprisal in the excellent final season of Better Call Saul.
No, according to Cranston himself, Walter White’s true swan song is coming in the form of a 60-second PopCorners ad the company just released ahead of the Super Bowl this Sunday. Even actors as huge as Cranston can’t escape the crushing wheel of capitalism, apparently–something Walt has known all along.
“This might be the retiring episode of the Breaking Bad universe,” Cranston told Extra. He continued: “I’ve had opportunities to bring Walter White into the milieu. I did it for Aaron’s movie El Camino and then once again for Better Call Saul. We were able to come back and each time we think, ‘Well, this is the last time we’re ever going to do this, and then PopCorners calls and it was like, ‘Well, we’ll do it one more time.’”
Just spitballing here, but if Cranston and Paul folded this easily for PopCorners of all things, we have some doubts about their ability to resist the call of, say, a Vince Gilligan led Gus Fring origin story. But that’s just a hypothesis.
If this commercial is indeed the true ABQ-verse finale, it’s… cute, we guess. Aaron Paul and Raymond Cruz also return as Jesse and Tuco respectively, to replay some of the events of Breaking Bad’s very first episode. Our favorite duo is back in the old RV to do some cookin’–only this time, it’s a batch of white cheddar PopCorners. “Tight! Tight! Tight!” Tuco screams later as he tastes the blue (bagged) stuff.
While this is certainly not the glorious death we would have expected for a character as infamous as Walter White, it’s always nice to see these three back in action doing their thing. And hey, at least this is a product we can actually legally try.
You can watch the PopCorners ad below: