Aaron Paul hypes Westworld season 4, Jesse’s return on Better Call Saul

Things have been relatively quiet of late for Westworld, HBO’s heady science fiction drama about sentient androids (called “hosts”) that escape a western-themed park for the super rich and upend society. If that sentence made your brain hurt…yeah, that’s Westworld.

Westworld has been one of HBO’s flagship series for a while now, and is one of those shows that reinvents itself every season. Season 1 followed the hosts as they gained autonomy, season 2 was a war over the park, and season 3 got even weirder by having several notable hosts escape into the human world only to discover that human beings are just as restricted as they were back in Westworld. The third season ended with Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) sacrificing herself to destroy Rehoboam, the supercomputer that assigns humans jobs and futures.

All of which is to say, season 4 of Westworld is once again going to reinvent the show, and who knows what it’ll be like? The cast, crew, and writers have all been keeping things close to the chest, so details are sparse despite the fact that season 4 is slated to air on HBO sometime this summer.

Aaron Paul says Westworld season 4 is even “bigger” than season 3

Westworld season 3 introduced a new character named Caleb, played by Breaking Bad veteran Aaron Paul. Caleb is a human, but he’s been put through the exact kind of trying ordeal we’d typically expect hosts to endure, having his memories reprogrammed in order to make him more controllable. Apparently, things are only going to get harder for Caleb.

“Oh my god. (Laughs.) Oh. My. God. I can’t wait for people to see what this season is all about,” Paul told The Hollywood Reporter. “[Showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy] always go so much bigger as the seasons go on. Yeah, they definitely put me through [the wringer]. That is certain. But it was done in a beautiful way, and I loved doing it.”

This lines up pretty well with what we heard from Paul’s co-star Jeffrey Wright (Bernard): “The struggle goes on, and Bernard is right there at the center of it. It’s gonna be fun.” We don’t know much about the nature of the struggle this season, but it’s almost certainly going to blow our minds. That’s just what Westworld does.

Aaron Paul “shocked” the secret is out about his Better Call Saul appearance

Paul also talked a bit about Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel series that is about to begin airing its sixth and final season. Since Better Call Saul is set before the original show, Paul and his costar Brian Cranston have never made an appearance on it despite many other Breaking Bad alumni showing up. That’s set to change in season 6, as series producer Peter Gould recently confirmed that Jesse Pinkman (Paul) and Walter White (Cranston) will appear.

Though he was “shocked” to learn that the producers of the show had decided to announce his and Cranston’s appearance ahead of time, the fact that the news is out is a relief for Paul, especially after he had to be so secretive about the Breaking Bad sequel movie El Camino when that was getting made. “I was heading to the [final season] premiere party of Better Call Saul, and they go, ‘There’s a flag on the play. Just so you know, Vince [Gilligan] and Peter let everyone know that you and Bryan are going to be in the final season.’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ So I didn’t see that coming. But to be honest, I’m happy to be able to finally talk about it and not be squirrelly. It’s nice to be able to be open about it.”

"I think fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul might have been expecting it. They’ve been seeing the Breaking Bad family slowly appear within the walls of Better Call Saul, so I think it would be odd if Walt and Jesse didn’t make an appearance. So I’m excited that we did and how we did. I think people are going to be thrilled about it."

Paul also said that Jesse and Walt’s appearance in the show will happen in an unexpected way. It would pretty much have to, since by the end of season 5 we’re still a few years out from the beginning of Walt and Jesse’s journey together. The shows could feasibly overlap near the end of Better Call Saul, but at the same time, it may be challenging to do something like, say, show Jesse when he was still a high school student in Walter White’s science class, since the actor is in his 40s.

“To be honest, I’m such a fan of Better Call Saul that I just didn’t initially see how they were going to do it,” Paul said. “But of course, leave it to Vince and Peter and the rest of the writers to come up with the perfect way. It’s fun. I think people are going to be excited.”

The two-part premiere of Better Call Saul season 6 airs tonight on AMC at 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. Westworld season 4 is expected sometime this summer.

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