It was previously revealed that Bryan Cranston would be reprising his role as Walter White from the iconic television show Breaking Bad for an upcoming Super Bowl commercial for PopCorners. Now, it has been announced that his partner-in-crime on the show, Aaron Paul, will be right there alongside him.
Paul will return as Jessie Pinkman in the advertisement according to a report from Entertainment Weekly. While a still image of Cranston as White—also known as Heisenberg—was previously released, a new teaser for the advertisement shows Paul back in the saddle as well. The 17-second clip shows Paul in character as Pinkman, sitting in a desert locale enjoying a bag of PopCorners chips. As the Breaking Bad theme song is overlayed, the camera pans back to reveal an ominously empty seat next to Pinkman. The trailer ends with the revelation that Pinkman has been sitting next to the show's iconic camper van (and meth lab) the entire time. His cell phone rings, and Pinkman utters his famous line, "Yo?" before asking, "What's up?" as the screen fades to black.
It was not officially confirmed that White is the character who will fill the chair next to Pinkman, and it could perhaps be someone else from the Breaking Bad series. However, White seems to be the most obvious choice, especially because the previous tease of him holding a bag of PopCorners seems to make it clear that he will be joining Pinkman on a still-unknown adventure. The fact that Pinkman is sitting in a lawn chair also harkens back to the numerous foibles the pair faced in the desert throughout the show's run.
It should come as no surprise that the Internet went abuzz with the news that Cranston and Paul would be reprising their roles, given that Breaking Bad is one of the most acclaimed and popular shows in the history of television. Created and produced by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad follows White, a high-school chemistry teacher who turns to meth dealing to help his family after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Along the way, he joins forces with Pinkman, his former student, and gradually builds out his drug empire over the course of five seasons. The show starred numerous others, including Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, Jonathan Banks, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jessie Plemons. Also introduced in Breaking Bad was attorney Saul Goodman, whose portrayal by Bob Odenkirk proved so popular that he was given his own award-winning spinoff show, Better Call Saul.
Breaking Bad won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards during its run, with Cranston winning four and Paul claiming three. The PopCorners ad will not be the first time that the pair have collaborated after the show, as Cranston and Paul both appeared in the final season of Better Call Saul and also reprised their roles in the 2019 Breaking Bad sequel film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. The two men have also started the Dos Hombres mezcal company together and have even had statues dedicated to them in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Breaking Bad was set.
Super Bowl LVII will air on February 12 on Fox. The PopCorners teaser featuring Aaron Paul can be seen below: