While El Camino just released last night on Netflix, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan already spoiled the ending to the story of Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman six years ago. (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)
In an interview with GQ back in 2013, right after the Breaking Bad finale aired to critical acclaim, series creator Vince Gilligan was asked about the ambiguous nature of the ending of Jesse Pinkman’s story. He revealed that, in his mind, Jesse got to have a new life — something that’s reflected in the final scene with Aaron Paul in El Camino, down to the location where he relocates. However, Jesse Pinkman would have to evade the authorities before this.
Here’s what Vince Gilligan said about Aaron Paul’s character in that interview:
“My personal feeling is that he got away. But the most likely thing, as negative as this sounds, is that they’re going to find this kid’s fingerprints all over this lab and they’re going to find him within a day or a week or a month. And he’s still going to be on the hook for the murder of two federal agents. But yeah, even though that’s the most likely outcome, the way I see it is that he got away and got to Alaska, changed his name, and had a new life. You want that for the kid. He deserves it.”
This fate was actually foreshadowed in the Breaking Bad series finale, “Felina”, in which Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman had a daydream that he was a carpenter, before waking up to the harsh reality that he was still imprisoned in a Neo-Nazi camp, being forced to manufacture crystal meth. The final shot of Aaron Paul on the show was of him driving away to freedom, laughing hysterically as he escapes. The final shot of El Camino has a parallel to the ending of Breaking Bad, as Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman is last seen driving off to a new life in Alaska with satisfaction.
Here is Netflix’s official synopsis for Aaron Paul’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie:
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. Breaking Bad showrunner Vince Gilligan wrote and directed the movie, which brings back familiar faces from the show’s universe such as Jesse’s friends Skinny Pete (Charles Baker) and Badger (Matt L. Jones).
Written and directed by Vince Gilligan, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie stars Aaron Paul, Charles Baker, Matt L. Jones, and Jonathan Banks. The film features multiple character appearances from Breaking Bad in cameo roles, and is the final film role of Robert Forster, who died the day that the film was released on Netflix.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie has been released on Netflix. The movie will also air on AMC at an unspecified date in the future.
Source: GQ
