We Won't See Jesse Pinkman Again After Better Call Saul, According To Aaron Paul

For the last 15 years, Aaron Paul has been synonymous with Jesse Pinkman, the character he originated on "Breaking Bad" back in 2007. Now, after 64 long hours of television and the "El Camino" feature film, Paul is finally saying goodbye to everyone's favorite b****-dropping boy from "Breaking Bad." Paul recently appeared in the final season of "Better Call Saul," the "Breaking Bad" prequel series starring Bob Odenkirk as James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill, aka Saul Goodman. It had been three years since he revisited the character in "El Camino," but as Paul described in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, his return on "Better Call Saul" was like "reconnecting with a familiar friend."

"You can be away from that friend for some time, but when you are back in each other's company, it's like no time has passed," Paul said. "We all know our characters so well having played them for years, so it felt good." While Pinkman was a high school senior when he was first introduced, Paul was 27 years old at the time. He's spent the majority of his adult life playing the character, but it's time to let him go. "I love Pinkman, he will always have a special place inside of me,"  he said, "but I can confidently say that ["Better Call Saul"] was the last time we're going to see Pinkman. So it was a nice farewell."

With "Better Call Saul" serving as a prequel series, it was a shock for Paul when he learned that show creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould wanted to bring him back for the final season. "Honestly, I did not expect a call to join 'Better Call Saul,'" he said. "I'm such a huge fan of the show, but I didn't see how they were going to do it." As he told THR, Paul was a huge fan of the series but was a half-season behind when he was asked to appear, which meant he had no idea how they were going to fit Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse into the fold. "But from the moment they called me, I said, 'Yeah, they figured it out, they knew how to do it.'"

Despite the prequel appearance putting Pinkman just before his 21st birthday, the team behind "Better Call Saul" chose not to digitally de-age Paul, and instead just let this 40+-year-old man play younger. "There's always going to be people who poke at something," he said. "Obviously, I've aged; we've all aged, but it's fun, so let that go." Paul said that playing Pinkman was "the time of his life back then" and declared that it was just as fun the second time around. "Pinkman was without a care in the world at that time, especially when you compare it to what lies ahead in his very near future," he said. "So it was a beautiful challenge."

Farewell, Jesse Pinkman. This Gatorade's for you, b****.