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Recently I came to know about the new TV show Better Call Saul, which is a spin-off from Breaking Bad. But to my disappointment, the characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were dropped from the show. Are there any plans to include them in the future?

I also noticed that all the main characters in any spin-off generally get dropped? Is there any particular reason for that?

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    Well, first and foremost it's supposed to be a spin-off concentrating on, well, Saul Goodman and not "Breaking Bad: the hidden seasons", so it's natural for established main characters to step into the background. Other than that, do you have any evidence that they have been dropped completely even without guest appearances now and then, seeing that the show isn't much more than a few episodes upto maximum a single season old?
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Feb 20, 2015 at 16:05
  • Simply put, it's all about chronology... Saul was establishing himself as a lawyer during the time Walt and Jesse had a more traditional 'teacher and student' relationship
    – user42922
    Aug 2, 2018 at 19:26
  • “the characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were dropped from the show” — damn straight they were! Turns out they were holding Breaking Bad back from true greatness for the entire run of the show!
    – Paul D. Waite
    Apr 4, 2020 at 16:17
  • One cannot be "dropped" from a spin-off prequel. Simply not included. Probably because Jesse'd be twelve.
    – Mazura
    Sep 16, 2022 at 19:56

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It's a little facetious to say that Walt and Jesse were dropped. They were never intended to be lead characters. The show is about Saul Goodman (hence the Better Call Saul). Of course, they could make cameos, as Vince Gilligan, the Breaking Bad creator, said:

“Personally, I’d have a hard time resisting putting all these guys in for a cameo or two every now and then.”

However, the show is focussed on Saul. The actor who portrays him, Bob Odenkirk, commented:

“Here’s what I told Vince and Peter – Pete Gould is also writing that show –we’re gonna make it fresh. It’s not gonna be Breaking Bad 2.0 or whatever. It’s a different show and it’s gonna have a different energy and we’re not gonna try to just extend Breaking Bad. That can’t be done. That show is great, it’s done, it’s all wrapped up and delivered, and now we’re gonna do something fresh and new with a character that is rich and funny, and everyone’s excited about it. And we wanna make sure the audience sees right away that it’s not a continuation of Breaking Bad, but rather its own thing that hopefully is gonna be entertaining on its own terms.”

So to summarise - the show is simply not about them. It's about Saul. They may or may not make cameos (both have expressed interest), but they are not the focus of the show.

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    Well, not to mention the show takes place in 2002, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Call_Saul, whereas the events of Breaking Bad begin sometime in 2008. Further, if you look at the letter and/or check Saul gets in the mail in the first episode, both are dated with the year 2002. So Jessie and Walt are out there somewhere, and could pop up for various reasons in later episodes/seasons, but as Mr. Martin has stated, they're not the primary focus of Better Call Saul.
    – MattD
    Feb 20, 2015 at 17:11
  • Plus "Better Call Saul" shows the happenings before Breaking Bad, what has happended to Saul before he met Heisenberg and Yo-Bitch.
    – Trollwut
    Feb 21, 2015 at 13:37
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Added to the other answers: Jesse Pinkman would still have been a school student (making facetious art about his teachers, as well as the occasional wooden box), and Walter White a mild mannered chemistry teacher (who was giving his less attentive students an F and an inferiority complex).

Why would either of them need a lawyer (at that time)?

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    Jesse would've been 19 in 2002. New-Mexico school leaving age is typically 18 however if you were born late on in the year you could still be 17. Jesse was born in September - so given that the school intake starts around that time of year, it's pretty safe to assume he would've been 18 when he left. In 2002 Jesse was likely a stoner in a "band".
    – John Bell
    Jun 14, 2017 at 9:23
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The other answers summarize things well: This is about Saul and it happens well before the Walter and Jesse characters even become interesting.

However, regarding "Is there any plans to include them in the future?" the fact that Better Call Saul is a prequel does not mean it may not eventually catch up to the time frame that is breaking bad, or offer us some flash-forwards in time. There have been hints of this in the media.

From mid-2014:

According to actor Aaron Paul, he has had “serious talks” with Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul producer Vince Gilligan about a role on the series, something that seems to appeal to Paul’s sense of loyalty and a want to revisit the version of Pinkman that was unspoiled by Walter White’s “empire business.”

From February 2015:

[Bob Odenkirk:] "I'm sceptical [sic] of Vince's denials," he told The Independent in an interview. "He does know where he's going to use those guys [Walt and Jesse] or have them appear. He just doesn't want to say it yet."

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The show is about Saul, many (seven) years before the events in Breaking Bad.

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    While you have kind of a valid answer at its core here, you might want to flesh it out a little more and make it sound less like a question or comment.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Feb 20, 2015 at 16:32
  • Good comments, I stated my answer as a rethorical question, which is not the right form for an answer here.
    – Andreas Finne
    Feb 20, 2015 at 17:12
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They weren't dropped. They both made a significant appearance in the final season, Season 6.

As Better Call Saul approaches the end of its run — and the timeline of Breaking Bad — brace for a blue sky: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will reprise their roles as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.

Co-creator Peter Gould revealed the news — not unexpected, but sure to thrill fans — at a Better Call Saul panel at PaleyFest in Los Angeles on Saturday night. "The first question we had when we started the show was, 'Are we going to see Walt and Jesse?'" Gould told the audience. "And instead of evading, I'll just say, 'Yeah."

The Better Call Saul Twitter account confirmed the casting, posting a picture of the two partners in meth crime and noting, "They're coming back."

Source: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul to guest in season 6 of Better Call Saul — Entertainment Weekly

tweet screenshot

Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) and Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler) discussed Walt and Jesse's appearance in Better Call Saul in a Vanity Fair YouTube video, 'Better Call Saul' Fan Theories with Bob Odenkirk & Rhea Seehorn (relevant part starts at 09:53):

Quoting the relevant part of the video (emphasis mine):

Brad Dukes: My theory is Walt shows up at Cinnabon on his way back from New Hampshire.
Bob: Wouldn't that be great?
I always loved the idea of Saul pulling his car into that octopus car wash.
And those two sort of standing right next to each other holding it in. Obviously, I can say that because it doesn't happen.
Of course we know we're gonna see Walt and Jesse, and we're gonna see them more than once in the final six episodes. And they're very well used, very smartly and economically used, not just to "look what we got", but to explore.
Rhea: As they said, they never wanted to do a drive-by cameo. It had to be for the purpose of the story.

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