Throughout the five-season run of "Better Call Saul", there have been a plethora of familiar faces from "Breaking Bad" to make appearances in the prequel series. Some are minor, such as the illegal weapons dealer Lawson (Jim Beaver) and the disappearer himself Ed Galbraith (played by the late Robert Forester), while others have been major players like the recent appearances of DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) and his partner Steven Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada).
These appearances help to not only invest fans in the show but give credence to the continuity set in the prior series as well. There's no question that Jimmy Mcgill a.k.a. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) has run into a numerous amount of strange and dangerous sorts in his time as Albuquerque, New Mexico's premiere "criminal" lawyer.
With the final season of "Better Call Saul" approaching and the timeline getting ever so close to the events of "Breaking Bad," even more characters from the original show are bound to pop up.
5. Spooge and his lady
I cheated here a little bit, but meth addicts Spooge and his lady work much better as a combo. Aside from showing audiences the absolute worst results that crystal meth can actually have on a person, Spooge and his lady (played by David Ury and Dale Dickey) actually didn't have much of a role to play in the series.
Jesse was sent to retrieve his stolen money from the two by Walter White (Bryan Cranston), witnessed Spooge get his head caved in with an ATM by his wife, and left their neglected kid for child services or whoever. Neither Spooge's lady or the child were heard from again.
But this is precisely why an appearance in "Better Call Saul" would be ideal. Just in his first appearance in "Breaking Bad," Saul made it known to Walt that Spooge was a prior client that he had encountered in the past. With Jimmy continuing to go all-in on his unscrupulous role as Saul, it's only a matter of time before Jimmy starts defending despicable people like Spooge and his lady on the daily.
Tony Dalton's Lalo was only beginning. Also, Spooge's wife was actually unnamed in "Breaking Bad," so it'd be nice to get a name for Spooge's partner in crime.
4. Declan
Who? Besides being the instigator of the iconic "Say My Name" speech by Walt in season 5 of "Breaking Bad," Declan (played by Louis Ferreira) ultimately didn't do much in the series to be considered truly memorable. As far as we know, Declan and Saul have never interacted prior to or during the events of "Breaking Bad" and operated in two separate playing fields that they wouldn't need to.
But, the co-star of "Better Call Saul" Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) definitely has had run-ins with Declan in the past pertaining to his employer Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) meth empire. Declan was another fellow meth distributor operating from Phoenix who had the potential to be a major antagonist for Walt or Mike in "Breaking Bad" but ended up being shortchanged in favor of Uncle Jack (Michael Bowen) and his gang of white supremacists.
With the first few episodes of the final season likely wrapping up the feud between Gus and Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), the remaining episodes of the series create room for a new antagonist to compete with Gus and Mike. Competition is always good for business.
Declan deserves more recognition than simply being remembered as that dude who looked like Wolverine.
3. Emilio Koyama
Emilio!!!
Similar to Spooge and his lady, Emilio Koyama (John Koyama) only appeared in a single episode of "Breaking Bad" before being killed by Walter via phosphine gas and then disposed of by his own former partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in a memorable hydrofluoric acid (a.k.a. body melting) death.
However, in the grand scheme of things, Emilio, as well as his cousin, plays a crucial role in the complete transformation of Walter White into Heisenberg. But before White even entered the picture, both Emilio and his cousin were represented by Saul with Saul apparently getting Emilio out of jail twice.
"Breaking Bad's" first real antagonist and Emilio's cousin, Domingo Molina a.k.a. Krazy 8 (Max Arciniega), has already made several appearances in "Better Call Saul", with season five providing his most important role to date. With Krazy 8 now in the hands of the DEA as their snitch for the cartel and Saul moving up in the ranks of the New Mexico criminal marketplace, Emilio feels like a shoo-in for a season six appearance.
2. Patrick Kuby
I'm honestly surprised we've made it five seasons without even a whiff of comedian Bill Burr's Patrick Kuby. We've seen one half of Saul's A-Team in the show in Huell Babineaux (played by fellow comedian Lavell Crawford).
Though Kuby didn't make an appearance until season four of "Breaking Bad", Kuby and his accomplice, Huell, have been acquainted with Saul for a while before the events of the series. Not much is known about Kuby's past, which allows "Better Call Saul" to get creative with Kuby's introduction.
Burr's popularity has exploded since "Breaking Bad" went off the air and is in much higher demand these days, though this is not why Kuby hasn't made an appearance on the show up to this point. Apparently, Burr had to put a rain-check on his "Better Call Saul" season five invited to attend a funeral, which forced the show creatives to work around the Kuby intro by bringing back the character of Sobchak a.k.a. Mr. X from season one (played by Steven Ogg).
Burr's stardom has created a few potential hurdles for "Better Call Saul" scheduling wise, but it's going to be difficult to keep half of Saul's A-Team out of the final season.
1. Walter White
It was only a matter of time. For me, personally, this was a toss-up between Walter or Jesse, but I ultimately ended up going with Walt. As logical as a Jesse appearance would be, Aaron Paul is now 40, and while he looks great for his age, he does not pull off the early 20s anymore.
Walter White (a.k.a. Heisenberg) has had a huge impact on Saul's life, being both his greatest client and his ultimate downfall. It'd be strange not to have the cause of Saul's current predicament in the flash-forwards of each season opener to never get some kind of acknowledgment.
Walt should definitely be a part of the final season, but not as the main player. "Breaking Bad" was Walt's show and "Better Call Saul" is Saul's. Many "Breaking Bad" fans definitely make up a good portion of the show's audience, but there are those select few who happen to tune into the adventures of the fast-talking lawyer without even being aware of the high school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin.
Also, it's worth mentioning that Bryan Cranston has already made a short appearance in last year's "Breaking Bad" epilogue film "El Camino," so he's not opposed to reprising his most famous role.
Depending on how the coronavirus pans out, "Better Call Saul" fans may be waiting longer than usual for the final season. But the long wait will only give us more time to think about all the possibilities of what the writers have in store for us.
Now, there are plenty of other characters in the "Breaking Bad" universe that would make for fun appearances like Skinny Pete, Badger, Wendy, and the car wash owner with the eyebrows that won't quit Bogdan. However, it can then becomes an issue of including too many characters. Less is more.
The "Breaking Bad" cameos and Easter eggs that have been included in the series up to this point feel natural to the story rather than being forced for fan service. Either way, as "Better Call Saul" reaches its conclusion, the fans, as well as Saul Goodman, are going to be in for some surprises.