‘Breaking Bad’: The 4 Best Spinoff Ideas

It’s been almost a decade since the popular drama series Breaking Bad reached its end. Since then a spinoff movie (El Camino) and TV series (Better Call Saul) have been created. However, that hasn’t stopped fans from wanting more. There are quite a few characters with interesting enough backstories or vague enough futures to create another fascinating spinoff series. These four ideas are some of the best.

Mike Ehrmantraut’s police officer days

Mike is a fascinating character in Breaking Bad. He is first introduced to help clean up after Jane overdoses in Jessie’s apartment. Mike was Gus Fring’s right-hand man until he was killed by Walter White. In his earlier years, Mike was a police officer. He married and had a son named Matt. It is revealed in Better Call Saul that Matt became a cop and was killed, though Mike maintained a close relationship with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

Although Better Call Saul gives a little more context to Mike’s story, ScreenRant points out that it would be interesting to have an entire spinoff series about Mike’s early years as a cop. In the Breaking Bad episode “Half Measures,” Mike tells Walt a story from his police officer days about confronting a man who frequently physically abused his wife. This brief story suggests Mike had quite an eventful time in law enforcement.

Gray Matter Technologies

In his earlier years, Walt formed a scientific research company called Gray Matter Technologies with his best friend from Caltech, Elliott Schwartz. Things seemed to have begun slowly with Gray Matter. Walt dated his lab assistant Gretchen, though he broke up with her and ended up selling his share of Gray Matter for $5,000. Later, Elliott married Gretchen and the company became incredibly successful.

A fan on Reddit suggested that this would make an excellent Breaking Bad prequel. “Gray Matter – a prequel showing Walt and Gretchen and Elliot creating Gray Matter and what happened to destroy their relationships,” the fan suggested on a Breaking Bad spinoff ideas thread. It’s clear that there is a very complicated history between, Walt, Gretchen, and Elliott that would be fascinating to explore.

Gustavo Fring’s childhood and rise to power

Gus got a little more screen time in the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, but some fans were still left wanting more. A fan on Reddit suggested a spinoff “series about a young Gus and how he got his power.” Another fan suggested on the thread that the pilot “could open with Gus as a small child living in poverty in Chile.”

It would be fascinating to watch Gus travel to America and rise through the ranks with his friend Maximino “Max” Arciniega, whose death served as the catalyst for his revenge plot against Hector Salamanca. This duo’s friendship and Max’s death are explored briefly in the Breaking Bad episode “Hermanos,” but there might be enough there for an entire miniseries. ScreenRant has also suggested that a spinoff series about the Salamanca “cousins” would be worth watching.

A Badger and Skinny Pete sitcom

This spinoff idea is perhaps the most bizarre on the list, but it just might work. Jesse’s friends Badger and Skinny Pete are the comic relief in Breaking Bad. In El Camino, they help Jesse escape the law. After that, it’s not known what happens to the two friends. Luckily Badger and Skinny Pete survive the series. A fan on Reddit suggested a “Badger and Skinny Pete “Sitcom” – A show about them after El Camino,” might be fun to watch.

This is certainly an interesting idea. Perhaps a series about Badger and Skinny Pete could also show flashbacks to their early friendship with Jesse.