Breaking BadfavoriteCharles Bakerhas taken some time to reflect back upon his role as Skinny Pete and even teased the possibility of a spinoff series. InBreaking Bad, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) was frequently seen with two of his pals, Skinny Pete and Brandon “Badger” Mayhew (Matt Jones). The pair showed up inEl Camino: A Breaking Bad Movieas well, though neither would join Jesse for a cameo in the recently-concluded spinoff showBetter Call Saul.
In a new interview witheBaum’s World, Baker opened up about playing the Skinny Pete role. He described how landing that part had basically been a dream come true. Baker recalls how the series was not the global phenomenon that it is today during the first two seasons when viewership was still fairly low. It was thanks to the show’s availability on Netflix that had gotten more fans hooked, resulting in a boom of popularity and huge success forBreaking Bad.
“It was a dream. I don’t even know how to… it was such an amazing thing. The first two seasons, everyone in the crew knew what kind of show we had. We knew it was an amazing show. We didn’t know that the audience was going to catch on to that… It would have been easy for AMC to just kill it after two seasons, because it really didn’t have the traction that a lot of shows that get canceled do. There was a lot of hope, there was a hope of just positive vibes on set. Once Netflix hit, and it started becoming the most binge-watched, we actually I think kind of invented binge-watching, it kind of changed things.”
After the show ended in 2013, Baker would reprise his role as Skinny Pete for 2019’sEl Camino: A Breaking Bad Movieon Netflix. Baker says that he was incredibly flattered that Vince Gilligan wrote the script for that movie with Skinny Pete having such a prominent role in the first act. He also described what it was like to revisit that role years later, admitting that he was concerned that he didn’t look as young as he did back when the show was on the air.
“I was over the moon, man… It was great to get back into that character. I was nervous about the age difference. I was so much older than Skinny Pete when we started, that I was kind of nervous that that was going to be a real obvious thing, but they fixed me a little bit. Younged me up some, which helped. It was like coming home. We had been doing that for six years, and away from it for a little while, and suddenly I’m back with all the same crew, all the same people, all the same actors, and it was just such a familiar place… I felt like I was able to bring a little bit more to it this time. But it was mostly it was just the most flattering thing that’s ever happened.”
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Charles Baker Is Open to a Spinoff Series
There have been manyBreaking Badfans suggesting that Skinny Pete and Badger get the nextBreaking Badspinoff series. That’s a testament to just how popular the two had been. For his part, Baker says he’d be happy to do the potential show. He notes that it would need to be a solid idea that makes sense, but he trusts theBreaking Badcreative team with whatever ideas they might come up with.
“There are lots of people definitely asking. I trust Vince Gilligan and that crew to know what’s right and to know what will work, and if they don’t want to force it, I don’t want to be part of that. I would happily jump into that role again if they could find a way for it to make sense and make it work. But not just for the sake of money, but because they feel it’s necessary, you know? I love the character, I love the role, it’s just, you know, how much longer can I play a young drug addict, at this point and keep that kind of energy? I’d be happy to do it if they ever wanted to, but I don’t know that they would. I don’t know there’s a reason for it.”
While Baker would be happy to revisit Skinny Pete, he says that his biggest hope is that Gilligan and Co. will think up of a new idea with original characters that will have people feeling that it’s “so much better” than rehashing characters from the past. In any case, there are no immediate plans for any more shows to be developed in that world followingBetter Call Saul, but that show’s co-creator, Peter Gould, hastaken a “never say never” approachto what the future may one day bring.
