Better Call Saul may ostensibly be a prequel to Breaking Bad, but for the first two seasons TV maestro Vince Gilligan hasn't exactly been all that obsessed with setting upwards his opus. Information technology is, fundamentally, a unlike show. Following Jimmy McGill – Saul before he was Saul – Amend Call Saul is less concerned with the meth trade and Albuquerque'due south underlying crime culture, and instead tells the story of a conman-cum-lawyer'south repeated failed attempts to exist taken seriously by his peers and, more than importantly, his brother. Information technology's a family drama, with the feud betwixt "Slippin' Jimmy" and the electricity-fearing Chuck the cadre of the emotional twists and turns. We may know where 1 of them ends up thanks to the parent show (and a depressing framing device), but that only makes things the more tragic.

That's non to say there oasis't been some shades of where the wider Breaking Bad mythos is heading. Alongside Jimmy's disharmonize we've seen ex-cop Mike Ehrmantraut, newly arrived in Albuquerque, brainstorm to detect himself a role of the city'south drug-dealing underworld; Tuco appeared in the very showtime episode and he's since brought in the rest of the Salamanca clan – the cousins and a pre-stroke Hector. The terminate of Flavour 2 saw Mike plot to impale Hector in revenge for threatening his family unit, merely to be stopped at the last minute by a subconscious figure, warning him past car-note "Don't".

To the Breaking Bad faithful who had cracked an anagram subconscious in the season'due south episode titles, it was pretty obvious where we were heading. Now AMC has confirmed it; to kicking-start the promotion for Season 3, due this Bound, they've released an in-universe advert for Los Pollos Hermanos, consummate with an advent from its CEO and hush-hush drug kingpin. Oh yeah, Gus Fring's well and truly back.

He may have been half-blown-upward a flavor before the bear witness's end, just Fring was the undisputed large villain of Breaking Bad, a coiled full measure of menace, so this is a pretty major evolution – besides primary characters Jimmy and Mike, he'due south the biggest returning character and so far. And as this is the first officially released footage related to the new flavor (at that place's been a few stills, merely not much else), information technology looks like Gilligan's got more than than a unproblematic cameo in listen. To concur with this, Giancarlo Esposito, the role player reprising the part, tweeted out that nosotros'll be getting "the ascension of Gus". Not too disconnected anymore, so.

I'm back!! What you lot've been waiting for, the rise of Gus is coming! Check this out...#PollosHermanos moving picture.twitter.com/CLQubJVWNK

— Giancarlo Esposito (@quiethandfilms) Jan 11, 2017

So, Gus Fring is back in a large way, but what exactly tin can we look from everyone's favourite fast-food businesswoman, and might his render tell united states of america nigh the plot of flavor iii?

The Ascension of Gus

When we showtime see Gus in season two of Breaking Bad, he's a big step upwards for Heisenberg's meth business; Fring already has a successful drug empire, with the New Mexico-spanning eating house chain Los Pollos Hermanos an elaborate distribution front (in partnership with Madrigal Electromotive GmBH). In terms of relationships with the Better Call Saul characters, he'southward a business organization acquaintance of Saul, although secretly working much more than closely with the lawyer'due south hired musculus, Mike. The Salamanca conflict appears to be pretty much over, with Tuco pocket-size time afterwards his jail stint, the cousins out of the country and Hector a shadow of his one-time self. If we're going to get Gus as a major presence going forward, it seems reasonable to expect most of these pieces to fall into place before the show'due south over.

Of course, by the time of Amend Call Saul he's already well on the manner to the top. The show is set in 2002, six years before Breaking Bad, then at this indicate Fring's been in America a good decade-and-a-half (he emigrated from Chile to Mexico in 1986). We know from the parent show he has a well-built rivalry with Hector Salamanca (who killed Fring's partner, Max, in a 1989-set flashback), but that he eventually overcame that and worked with the cartel to grow his business organization, which is where we'll likely pick him up. As such, the core of his "rise" here volition accept to be the Salamancas beingness brought downwardly, including Hector's stroke, allowing him to seize control of the whole operation.

Whatsoever Gus action volition, at least to begin with, come through Mike, who is evidently entering into the Fring/Salamanca conflict partway through. He'south an unexpected third political party in the battle, one who could mess with whatever long game Gus is playing, just conversely may finally give him the upper mitt. The show is probably going to view all this through Ehrmantraut's optics - he and Jimmy are the 2 primary POV characters - seeing Gus' rise primarily as office of Mike's personal redemption (or, peradventure more reasonably, acceptance) of his past.

With that said, we could very possibly all the same become some of Fring'southward backstory. Ameliorate Call Saul isn't above taking massive diversions to securely explore the backgrounds of supporting Breaking Bad characters if information technology strengthens the rest of the show – "Five-O", which detailed tortured dirty cop Mike'southward tragic origins, is still a series highlight – and there actually is little known nigh Gus' earlier life. It'southward hinted heavily in Breaking Bad that he was somehow linked to the Pinochet government, and allusions are made to a completely different life. It may exist something as simple as he and Max (whose human relationship was left ambiguous in Breaking Bad) existence romantic partners and wanting to escape persecution, but any the case, it feels like a hidden detail Gilligan has kept back.

The big question, though, is how Gus volition exist portrayed. We all know he'south a maniacal presence inBreaking Bad, simplyBetter Phone call Saul has never actually assumed prior noesis, and so has freedom to play nigh with the reveal of his menace. Given that we've already had the calm-exterior-hiding-pure-evil reveal before, though, it'due south fair to wait something a bit different.

How Will He Fit Into Jimmy's Arc?

All the same, while in that location'south a lot of meat to get into with Gus, it'southward important to remember whose show this really is. Season three may be marketing itself on the presence of a Breaking Bad favourite, but the focus is still going to be on Jimmy, his fractured human relationship with fellow lawyer Kim, how Chuck discovering his actions at the cease of flavour 2 will affect his career dreams, and his e'er-closer fate of (oh-so-regrettably) becoming Mr Goodman.

The slow-burn nature of the show makes it unlikely that we'll get much of Fring crossover for Jimmy this season (maybe a visit to Los Pollos, or a single tardily nighttime coming together). In fact, given that Saul doesn't realise how out of his depth he is, or that Mike isn't "his" guy, until Walter White gets into an all-out war with Gus, he's probably just ever going to accept a glancing link to Fring across the prove's entire run anyway. To preserve Breaking Bad continuity they can't spend also much fourth dimension together and, in any example, you don't really want to have Saul "created" by Gus – information technology's a lazily user-friendly motility that would greatly reduce the impact of the by two years of personal development.

Gus is very much a subplot character in regards to the core picture, then, simply that shouldn't be taken as a knock confronting the Fring hype. Hector appeared in just a handful of scenes last year, still still had an indelible presence thanks to Marker Margolis' performance and the way the prove's writing balanced his contextual and narrative importance. While we're likely to get more than of Gus than Tio seeing as how he'll exist pitched in a less adversarial position (Mike it 100% up for the "expert thing" he offers), it'll be a similar gradual introduction and development – don't expect Better Call Saul to suddenly switch into Breaking Bad gear because Mr Two-Face is hither.

Don't worry though - the serial has shown multiple times it tin can infer peachy weight with very little, then even if he does take a backseat, many of the questions and dangling threads will no doubt exist addressed in typically subtle grade. For now, let's get a bucket of our favourite fried foodstuff and count down the days until The Chicken Human returns.

Better Call Saul is prepare to render in spring 2017.

  • Better Phone call Saul (2015)Release date: Jul 24, 2022

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About The Author

Alex Leadbeater (1118 Articles Published)

Content Manager for Screen Rant, Collider and CBR (and SR'south onetime Managing Editor), Alex Leadbeater has been covering picture show online since 2012 and been a permanent fixture of SR since 2016. Based in London, he oversees a global news & features squad based in NY, LA and across. You may have also seen/heard him on the Total Geekall podcast, unaffiliated YouTube channels, BBC Radio and CBC News. Growing upward in the English countryside on a mixture of Star Wars, The Simpsons and Aardman, Alex is a lifelong motion-picture show obsessive. Despite a brief jaunt in Mathematics at Durham University, film writing was e'er his calling. He's covered a wide range of movies and Boob tube shows - from digging out obscure MCU Easter eggs to diving deep into deeper meanings of arthouse fare - and has covered a litany of set visits, junkets and film festivals. He one time asked Tom Prowl about his supposedly imitation-butt in Valkyrie (he swore it was all real).

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