When it comes to television, certain movies and shows often leave a mark that lasts as long as cinema will, and one such show is Breaking Bad. At this point, Breaking Bad is a show that is being binge-watched by people who were not even born when it first came out, a factor that only testifies to the brilliance of this show. Moving further, we also got to see two spinoffs of the main show, Better Call Saul and El Camino.
While both the show and the movie are great watches, there is some lingering confusion regarding the order in which they should be watched. So, to clear things up and explain everything in great detail, here is the correct watch order of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino, at your disposal.
Should You Watch the Breaking Bad Franchise in Release Date Order?
Now, while you can most definitely go ahead and watch the entire thing in release date order, if you want the full experience the Breaking Bad universe has to offer, it’s unlikely for me to recommend it. There are a few reasons why the release date chronology does not work. The reason behind this is quite simple.
| Show/Movie Watch Order | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Better Call Saul | 2015 |
| Breaking Bad | 2008 |
| El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | 2010 |
When we talk of Better Call Saul, it should technically take place after the events of Breaking Bad, but while we do get a look at what happened to Saul after his interactions with Walter White, a good portion of us takes us before the events of the main series took place.
This also means that there are scenes and events in Better Call Saul from Breaking Bad, which might lead you to press the skip button quite often, ruining the overall pacing of the show, in turn, ruining the watching experience of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. As far as El Camino is concerned, the movie is basically a closure for Jesse, so it would be best to watch it right after Breaking Bad.
What Is the Correct Order to Watch Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino?
Now, technically speaking, watching the Breaking Bad franchise would be ideal if you start with Better Call Saul, but there are a few things that could cause hindrance to you because the show is not exactly a prequel to Breaking Bad, just a part of it. Even though it would be nice to watch Jimmy become Saul Goodman and his entire arc before his appearance in Breaking Bad but it comes with complications of its own. First off, the biggest drawback is the black and white scenes in Better Call Saul featuring Gene.
Without having the context of Breaking Bad, those scenes will make no sense to the viewer, especially why he is wanted, while also spoiling Breaking Bad. Moreover, the fates of almost every major character are talked about in Better Call Saul, which effectively spoils the main show as well. So, what should be the correct order to watch all the Breaking Bad shows?
The answer lies in the timeline. If you wish to watch Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul in the correct order, you need to watch them in order of events or the years we see unfold in the series, and below, find it all listed for your convenience. Now, while I understand it’s kind of difficult to watch a show methodically, this information is good to have just so you know what’s happening when to prevent you from confusion.
Breaking Bad Universe in the Correct Timeline Order to Watch
So, now, we will take a look at how the events we see in the Breaking Bad universe line up in a timeline order. First off, what we see in Better Call Saul unfolds way back before everything in Breaking Bad happened. So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it.
1. Better Call Saul Flashbacks (1970s to 2001)
The flashbacks we see in Better Call Saul are essential to understanding why Saul Goodman is the way he is, and they date back to the good old 70s. In the earliest flashback, dated at 1973, we see a young Jimmy (Saul) getting scammed by a conman, which led him to internally develop his concept of wolves and sheep, and because of this very experience, he started stealing money from his father’s cash register. This event tells us where the Saul Goodman we know of today originated or where the seeds of his morally conflicted ways were sown.
Following this, we get to see flashbacks set in the 80s, which give us the backdrop to the shaky relationship shared by Kim Wexler and her mother, which, in turn, helps us understand the strained relationship between Saul and Kim.
Next comes the flashbacks set in 1992, where we get to see Saul, or Jimmy’s life, before he became the infamous lawyer. We get to see his days when he went by the name of “Slippi’n Jimmy” in Cicero, Illinois. He and his accomplices were seen scamming people and hustling money out of them, which led to Jimmy’s eventual arrest. Jimmy calls his brother Chuck for help, and after Chuck bails him out, he hands Jimmy a mailroom job at his law firm.
Finally, the last major flashback we come across is set in 2001, where Jimmy reveals to Chuck and Kim that he passed the Bar and is now a licensed lawyer. Even after this achievement, Chuck refused to grand Jimmy a job at his firm. This event became the point of origin from where Jimmy started his solo practice and became the morally gray lawyer we know and love today.
2. Breaking Bad Flashbacks (1980 – 1990s)
While Better Call Saul’s flashbacks tell us all we need to know about the fall of Jimmy and the rise of Saul Goodman, the flashbacks in Breaking Bad take us back to the origin of characters such as Walter White and Gus Fring. The earliest flashback we get to see in Breaking Bad takes us to an unspecified date back in the 1980s. We see “Grey Matter Industries” being set up by Walter, Elliot Schwartz, and Gretchen Schwartz. There are hints that Walter and Gretchen shared a romantic affection towards each other. However, Walter later ends things with Gretchen and sells off the company, something he is seen regretting at multiple points during the run of Breaking Bad.
Following this, we move to the year 1989, where we get to see a pivotal point in the story of Gustavo Fring. We see that his partner, Max Arciniega, was killed by Hector Salamanca while all he could do was watch helplessly. From this point on, Gustavo made it his life’s mission to kill Hector and everyone in his crew to avenge Max’s death.
Next, we get the point of origin for the events we see in Breaking Bad. The next flashback takes us to 1993, where we see Walter and a pregnant Skyler checking out a house for sale, the very house where we see Walter living throughout most of the events seen in Breaking Bad.
3. Better Call Saul (2002 – 2003)
Better Call Saul acts as a bridge that gives us the story of Saul Goodman before he crossed paths with Walter White and Jessie. However, while most of the events we see in the show take place before Walter White started cooking, there are multiple namedrops and appearances included in Better Call Saul. The show takes us to 2002, where we see Jimmy trying to scale his practice under the name of Saul Goodman and gets involved in the underworld with Nacho Varga and Tuco Salamanca.
While saving his skin, as things go south, the relationship between him and his brother Chuck falls apart, with no hope of it coming back together. While all this was going on, Mike Ermantraut also attempted to kill Hector, but was stopped by Gus, only to be employed by him as his security.
Following this, we move a year ahead to 2003, where Chuck drags Saul to court on account of forgery. Even though Saul is suspended from his practice as an attorney for a year, he manages to prove that Chuck’s electromagnetic disease was just psychological. The aftermath of this trial led to a massive falling out between the brothers, as a result of which, Chuck committed suicide. On the other hand, Hector Salamanca was poisoned by Nacho Varga, which left him in an almost vegetative state, like we see in Breaking Bad.
4. Better Call Saul (2004-2005)
Now, Jimmy completely adapts the Saul Goodman name and starts practicing under it. However, the clients he takes are not your average Joes. On the other hand, Hector’s business is taken under the wing of Lalo Salamanca, whose paths happen to cross with Saul Goodman through Nacho Varga, who is also working undercover for Fring to keep tabs on Lalo. This is also the time when Gus and Mike are actively building their superlab. On the other Lalo is hell bent on exposing Fring, which leads to a deadly rivalry between Gus and Salamanca.
Everything that has been building up comes to its conclusion in 2004. We see Nacho’s death while protecting Fring’s plan and his father. Howard is also killed at the hands of Lalo when he shows up at Saul and Kim’s apartment at the same time as Lalo. He tried to use Saul as bait to kill Gus, but his plan was unsuccessful as Lalo was killed by Gus in a shootout. Mike lent a hand to Saul and Kim to cover up Howard’s death, and when things go back to normal, Kim parts ways with Saul.
Fast forward to 2005, and Kim’s departure has left Saul a broken man who has little to no morality left in him. He works simply for money and takes on shady clients until his paths cross with Walter White during the events of Breaking Bad.
5. Breaking Bad (2008-2010)
The events of Breaking Bad take place over a much shorter period of time, 2 years to be precise, which was also the time given to Walter at the time of his diagnosis. Walter received his cancer diagnosis in 2008, which sent him into a spiral as he became desperate for money. To get the cash he needs, he teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, and starts cooking Crystal Meth. They then team up with Tuco Salamanca as their distributor. However, Walter’s Brother-in-Law, DEA Agent Hank Schrader, finds and kills Tuco, leaving Walter and Jesse without a distributor.
In 2009, the Duo cut out the need for a distributor and expanded its operation using Jesse’s friends as distributors. However, it didn’t turn out to be that fruitful, and setbacks came in, which is when they had to approach Saul Goodman to build their business. Saul then introduced Jesse and Walter to Gus, and they started working for him. However, Gus was not happy with Walt and Jesse constantly doing things their own way and wanted them gone. To save his life, Walt first turned Jesse against Gus and then used Hector Salamanca to take down Gus for good, using Hector as a wheelchair bomb.
Moving on to 2010, with Gus dead, Walter White creates a drug empire with Lydia and the Madrigal company as his distributors. However, his empire comes at risk when his Brother-in-Law finds out that Walter is Heisenberg. Hank and Walter get in a heated argument, but before Hank could expose his identity as Heisenberg, he and his partner Steve were killed by Jack Welker and his men. The gang kidnaps Jesse and forces him to cook for them while Walter goes into hiding. However, he comes out with the mission of rescuing Jesse, giving money to his family, and killing off Jack and his gang. Walter does succeed in his mission, but meets his death at the end of Breaking Bad.
6. El Camino:A Breaking Bad Movie (2010)
The events of El Camino take place right after Breaking Bad as a conclusion to the story of Walter and Jesse. After Walter’s death, Jesse is left with nothing but the will to get out of town and build a new life for himself. He needed money, and in desperation, he broke into the apartment of one of the people who had held him captive.
Even though he did find the money, he had to split it with two other people who worked with Todd, as they were also looking for it in the apartment. However, the share of money he was left with wasn’t enough to buy him a new life. So, he had to get that money back from the people he had split it with. After retrieving the cash, he used Ed the Disappearer’s services to create a new identity and started life from scratch in Alaska.
7. Black and White Flash Forwards from Better Call Saul (2010)
This is where the timeline of Breaking Bad comes to an end. In Better Call Saul, these black and white flash forwards are used as opening sequences, but in the last season, they were used as full episodes. The events we see taking place in these flash forwards all occur in 2010, when Walter was busted and died, and when El Camino took place. Since Saul knew that he would be arrested as well, he used Ed the Disappearer’s services to form a new identity as Gene Takovic. He became a manager at a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska, and led a very low life, living in constant fear of being recognised.
However, Gene was recognised as Saul Goodman and was guaranteed his secret would be kept safe if he helped the men who identified him to rob the mall where he worked. Gene agreed to one last con and helped them get what they wanted. After this, even though his disguise was now safe, he had fallen right back into old habits and continued to carry out cons, risking being revealed as Saul Goodman. Eventually, he was found and arrested.
Under the threat of a long jail time, he cut a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office in return for shortening his sentence. However, in the last moments, he turned away from the deal to make things okay with Kim and do one good deed before being sent to prison.
So, this is the correct order to watch Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino. I know that it is complex, and there’s a lot of back and forth with episodes to completely understand the Breaking Bad universe, but with this guide, I hope to make it easier.
Ajith Kumar
