Conception Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of
Breaking Bad, had the idea for
El Camino while writing the
series finale "
Felina". He asked himself what happened to
Jesse Pinkman after the events of the episode when Jesse escaped from the
neo-Nazis' compound after being rescued by
Walter White. Though he kept Jesse's fate ambiguous in the finale's script, Gilligan offered two possibilities during interviews: a more realistic one where the police caught Jesse a few miles from the compound, and a second, more optimistic one where he got away but still had to cope with the terrible things he witnessed throughout the series. In the intervening years, Gilligan toyed with approaches for continuing Jesse's story. One early idea involved Jesse hiding close to the Canadian border, getting lured back into crime to help a young woman in the town. This version ended with Jesse in a jail cell in the concluding scene, imprisoned yet at peace for the first time. Gilligan's girlfriend Holly Rice advised against this ending, saying fans would not appreciate seeing Jesse incarcerated after all he had been through. He received the same feedback when separately
pitching ideas for the film with the writing staff of
Better Call Saul, a
Breaking Bad spin-off co-created by Gilligan that was still airing at the time. The staff featured many writers from the original series; Gilligan originally served as co-showrunner during the early seasons before leaving the
writers' room to focus on other projects. They also objected to this ending because they planned on using a similar idea for the
series finale of Better Call Saul, which was still to come many years later, and felt this conclusion fit their story better than Jesse's. After the negative reception to the concept of Jesse getting caught by authorities, Gilligan subsequently went with the storyline of Jesse escaping to Alaska.
Development , portrayed by
Aaron Paul, after the events of
Breaking Bad. The original idea for continuing Jesse Pinkman's story began as a short film or "mini-episode" of about 15 to 20 minutes in length. Realizing a short would not be cost-effective, Gilligan opted to make a full-length feature film. He initially thought about titling the project
63, referring to its unofficial status as the 63rd episode of
Breaking Bad. However, during the meeting where Gilligan pitched story ideas with the
Better Call Saul staff, series executive producer
Thomas Schnauz advised him to change this proposed title. Schnauz, who served as an executive producer and a writer on both television series, reasoned to Gilligan that
Breaking Bad essentially focused on Walter White's story, whereas the film and its title should be unique to reflect that they centered on Jesse Pinkman. Gilligan agreed and eventually settled on the title
El Camino, referring to
the car Jesse drives away with in "Felina". Near the tenth anniversary of
Breaking Bads premiere, Gilligan started sharing the idea with former cast and crew members as a means to celebrate the milestone.
Aaron Paul, who portrayed Jesse in the series, affirmed that around this time, he received a phone call from Gilligan, who hinted at a return for his character. Paul initially believed this meant a
cameo appearance on
Better Call Saul, which is a
prequel to
Breaking Bad. Gilligan then revealed his intentions to continue Jesse's story after the events of the series, much to Paul's excitement. Though he thought
Breaking Bad concluded satisfyingly, Paul still felt attached to the character of Jesse Pinkman; fans regularly asked him of Jesse's whereabouts, while he occasionally wondered about Jesse's fate himself. At the end of the conversation, Paul showed eagerness to be involved with any idea Gilligan had for a
Breaking Bad continuation. Gilligan presented Paul with a completed screenplay seven months after proposing his idea. Paul spent three hours in Gilligan's office going over the script and almost instantly felt able to pick up on Jesse's mindset and emotional beats. Following his initial read-through, Paul was impressed to the point that he felt speechless, and likened this reaction to the one after his first reading of "Felina". Once he was finished with the screenplay, Paul continued to express happiness and excitement for the film, which he called a "love letter" to Jesse and
Breaking Bads fans, and lauded Gilligan for approaching the script with caution and care. Though Gilligan had been involved with feature-length films before,
El Camino was the first he directed and produced. While he considered the concept of a
sequel film for an extended period after
Breaking Bads conclusion, Gilligan stated he likely would not have been able to make it had
Better Call Saul been unsuccessful. When Gilligan made his initial film pitch to
Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul, the executives quickly agreed to come on board. With his script in hand, Gilligan then selectively shopped the film to a few potential distributors, settling on
Netflix and
AMC due to their history with the show. Gilligan intended
El Camino to have a theatrical release, which Netflix had previously provided for some of
Breaking Bads season premieres.
El Caminos unspecified budget surpassed the $6 million budget per episode by the end of
the show's final season.
Writing , the creator and showrunner of
Breaking Bad, wrote and directed
El Camino. Unlike most of his work from
The X-Files,
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul, where he collaborated with a writers room to develop his scripts and meet his deadlines, Gilligan wrote the film's screenplay alone until he felt it was ready to present. Regarding
El Camino as a coda to
Breaking Bad, Gilligan believed the film would primarily appeal to the show's fans and would not be as enjoyable to those who had not watched the series. This influenced his decision to write it as a direct continuation rather than inserting exposition scenes to try to attract new viewers. He felt
El Camino could be seen independently from both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul, similarly to how the two series could be seen independently from one another. However, he also believed the three works existed together in a larger framework, and that viewers needed to watch all of them together to receive the full cumulative experience. When thinking of which
Breaking Bad characters to use for
El Camino, Gilligan considered bringing back
Skyler White,
Walter Jr.,
Hank and
Marie Schrader, and
Gus Fring, but could not find a way to incorporate them into Jesse's story.
Saul Goodman was also considered, but Gilligan refrained as he was unaware of the potential plans
Peter Gould and the
Better Call Saul writers might have for the character in that series. An early concept included bringing back
Uncle Jack as a ghost that goaded Jesse throughout his journey, but Gilligan discarded this idea as too dreary, believing Jesse had already suffered enough. Of the characters he ended up using, Gilligan felt most excited to bring back the sociopathic
Todd Alquist, maintaining that he was fascinated with the character and wished he could have been further explored on the series.
Jesse Plemons, who portrayed Todd, expressed surprise at his deceased character's sizable role upon first reading the script. He described his portion of the film as Todd having his best day free from his elders' supervision, and likened his scenes with Jesse to a dark
buddy comedy. With Todd and the rest of the neo-Nazi gang
canonically dead at the end of "Felina", Gilligan felt the film needed a new villain to introduce conflict for Jesse in the new storyline. For this reason, Gilligan created the character Neil Kandy, the welder whom Gilligan labeled "Nazi-adjacent" due to his prior business dealings with the gang. He also described Neil as being more sociopathic than Todd, saying it would take someone of Neil's caliber to create the dog run that physically tethered Jesse without asking too many questions or even caring about Jesse's condition. Gilligan worried about introducing a new character not seen in
Breaking Bad, but called it "Drama 101" to include Neil as he gave Jesse a villain he could prevail against and provided the film with more visceral flair. and the
Better Call Saul writing staff consulted Gilligan as he developed the screenplay. Gilligan consulted the
Better Call Saul writers' room throughout
El Caminos writing process to not only ensure the two projects' continuity did not interfere with one another, but to also take in suggestions to improve his screenplay. Upon completion of his first draft, Gilligan immediately sought the advice of Gould, who developed
Better Call Saul with Gilligan and became its sole showrunner after Gilligan reduced his own role in the series. The decision to bring
Jane Margolis into the story resulted from this consultation, as the initial script did not include her. After Gould read the first draft, he advised that Jane could appear in the ending, where it would mean the most to the audience. Gilligan thought about the suggestion for a couple of weeks and eventually agreed. He incorporated the idea into his script, and Jane ultimately delivered the final lines of
El Camino.
Krysten Ritter, who reprised the role in the film, called the ending with her character "so beautiful" as it "sent Jesse off into the sunset with Jane riding shotgun ... He was going to be okay, and she was there with him". One of the biggest elements removed in later drafts was the very first thing Gilligan wrote for the script: the contents of Jesse's letter to Brock. Gilligan planned on having it read in voice-over while Jesse drove through Alaska in the final scene; Paul described it as "the most honest, beautiful, caring letter imaginablereally, just pouring his heart out and saying he's sorry". While the
Better Call Saul staff praised the letter's content, Gould and several others felt it would be better left to the audience's imagination to determine what Jesse wrote. Gilligan subsequently decided not to use the letter to conclude Jesse's story, and the voice-over was never recorded. Paul agreed with Gilligan's decision but expressed disappointment that it did not appear in the final cut. He retained possession of the letter after filming finished and shared his hope that its contents would eventually be revealed to the public. Gilligan wrote the scene of Walter and Jesse sitting in the diner in a light-hearted tone, with the intention of providing one last chance to see the two characters together as a final treat for the fans. Producer Melissa Bernstein suggested adding a bit more poignancy to the scene to let it further resonate with the audience. Gilligan left most of the scene from the original script intact, but he and Bernstein came up with the line, "You're really lucky, you know that? That you didn't have to wait your whole life to do something special", tying the scene to
El Caminos theme of Jesse finally taking control of his life.
Filming , where both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul were also shot. Principal photography for
El Camino began in
Albuquerque, New Mexico in November 2018 and ended February 2019, with the overall shoot lasting 50 days. Filming mainly occurred at
Albuquerque Studios, where both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul were shot, along with other locations throughout the city. Wireless microphones were planted throughout the sets and on the actors to record natural ambient noise and dialogue while shooting, as Gilligan preferred using organic sounds rather than applying
ADR during post-production. The film had a more relaxed shooting pace than
Breaking Bad, with only one and a half to three pages of script filmed per day rather than six to eight. This lower-pressure schedule gave the actors more opportunities to improvise on set, while providing the crew members time to film a wider variety of shots and further
camera coverage. Gilligan felt the slower pace allowed him to reflect and feel a greater sense of finality for his creation whilst filming. The first footage filmed for
El Camino was the shot where Jesse collapses into bed after showing up at
Badger and
Skinny Pete's house. Despite not portraying their characters since the show's ending several years prior, cast members felt at ease reprising their former roles. Paul filmed his scenes without any rehearsals, as he felt he could easily access Jesse's emotions the same way he could on the series. He likened his reprisal as Jesse to zipping on an old friend.
El Camino also used many of the crew members who held their roles since the pilot of
Breaking Bad, as several carried over to
Better Call Saul when the show concluded. Paul compared his first day of shooting with Gilligan,
Matt Jones,
Charles Baker, and the show's former crew members to a family reunion. Production nearly decided to forgo filming the shot of Jesse picking up a beetle outside Neil Kandy's office, citing scheduling constraints. However, Paul remained adamant about capturing the moment, citing it as a key insight into Jesse's frame of mind. The crew relented and filmed the scene in one take.
Cinematography El Camino used a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio on the
Arri Alexa 65 camera to capture the work in a cinematic manner. Gilligan and cinematographer Marshall Adams specifically chose the Alexa 65 for its quality in
low-light filming, which the film heavily featured. Using this camera also meant
El Camino would be shot
digitally, as opposed to
Breaking Bad which shot on
35mm film stock. Production designer Judy Rhee noted that Gilligan took advantage of his lens and wider aspect ratio to create a more visually luxurious experience than the series, letting the wide vista shots help meet
El Caminos plot beats rather than employing more economic options commonly used for television. Adams agreed with this opinion, citing as an example the vast and empty space of the
Painted Desert underscoring Jesse's lonely and hopeless state in Todd's captivity. Gilligan wanted
El Caminos cinematography to maintain the naturalistic look used on
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul while also expanding it. Adams specified this as the "realistic, practical-driven looks for night exteriors and low-light interiors that embraced all the colors and looks of Albuquerque" that he used on
Better Call Saul. By combining the Alexa 65 with Arri Prime DNA lenses, Adams could capture low-light efficiently, control depth of field, and also maintain color contrast and balance. Adams graded
El Caminos color palette with
DaVinci Resolve; he did not let
Breaking Bad dictate which colors he used and opted to make a palette specific to the film. To help receive
dailies, production used
FotoKem, who did the same work on both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul. The crew delivered footage with requested color changes to on-site FotoKem members, who then applied the changes to get the dailies out fairly quickly for Adams' review. Adams saw
El Camino as a way to pay homage to original
Breaking Bad cinematographer
Michael Slovis. Though Adams took over as director of photography during the
third season of Better Call Saul, he previously filmed
pick-ups with Slovis during the end of
Breaking Bads fourth season and served as cinematographer during that show's
fifth-season premiere. For
El Camino, Adams took great lengths to match Slovis' lensing from the series while modifying it for the film's digital format and larger aspect ratio. He specified the opening of Jesse driving out of the compound as one scene he updated using this approach, likening it to a
direct cut from Jesse's last appearance in
Breaking Bads finale. Adams applied the same principle for other scenes which used locations from the series, such as the compound and the vacuum store. To distinguish the
flashback scenes from the ones set in the present, Gilligan decided against using different color saturation. Instead he chose to have flashbacks filmed in a handheld look while having the present-day scenes more anchored and locked down. The fact that much of
Breaking Bad used handheld filming inspired this decision. As the Alexa 65 camera was too large to carry while filming, Gilligan achieved the wiggling effect by placing the camera on top of a truck airbag, which could be inflated and deflated easily between two plastic plates.
Set design Notable new sets built in the studio included Todd's apartment and the welding shop where Jesse's final confrontation with Neil Kandy and Casey took place. For the first, Rhee, who worked as the production designer on
Better Call Sauls fourth season, arranged the apartment set to reflect the duality of Todd's character. The initial living room seemed sunny, meticulous, and clean, reflective of Todd's exterior "
Boy Scout" personality, decorated with a childlike Easter egg palette to give a sense of his
arrested development. However, the set's palette became darker going further into his bedroom, indicative of Todd's sociopathic tendencies. Plemons likened the apartment set to looking inside Todd's brain, describing absolute chaos beneath the apparent order on the surface. Rhee also designed the dimensions of the apartment set to fit
El Caminos aspect ratio when shooting overhead. This arrangement allowed Gilligan to create the shot of Jesse searching for Todd's money in several different rooms simultaneously. For the welding shop set, Rhee wanted to maintain accuracy about how a welding business looked and match its exterior location, but also designed the set for the scene's stunt choreography and necessary camera blocking. Rhee incorporated the glass office in the back of the set to include breakage during the climax and enhance the scene's action beats. Several
Breaking Bad locations were reused for
El Camino, such as the Pinkman residence, the strip mall that contained Saul Goodman's office, and
Ed Galbraith's vacuum repair shop. The original vacuum store had sold and become a furniture store since the series ended, so production had to recreate the set from scratch and use a special buyer to locate identical props from flea markets and salvage areas. Having a restored set for the vacuum repair store provided an added convenience for the
fifth-season premiere of Better Call Saul, which aired several months later. Initially, the episode included Ed Galbraith simply as a voice-over, as the budget could not cover the cost of flying actor
Robert Forster to Albuquerque and rebuilding the vacuum shop set. However, Bernstein recognized that both Forster and the rebuilt set would be available as part of
El Camino, and arranged for Gilligan to shoot the
Better Call Saul scene with Forster in person during the film's production, months before filming began for any other episodes. One major
Breaking Bad location that had to be rebuilt primarily on stage was the compound that held Jesse prisoner, as many of the original structures had been torn down. The new set recreated the interior of Jesse's cage for the initial scenes of Jesse in captivity and seeing Todd through the steel grate. Filming for the subsequent exterior sequence of Todd letting Jesse out of his confinement happened on location; production found an existing
Quonset hut in downtown Albuquerque and built a slightly smaller scale cage next to it in order to match the original site from the series. The rebuilt set for the compound laboratory reused a majority of the original props, notably the cooking vessel Walter White touched shortly before he died in
Breaking Bads final scene. Despite resulting in a continuity error, Gilligan said he did not have the heart to clean Walt's bloody handprint from the prop and instead left it as an
Easter egg for fans.
Exterior locations The enhanced budget and filming schedule gave Gilligan a chance to capture scenes outside New Mexico, something he had wanted but could not do during
Breaking Bad. One such location included the Painted Desert in Arizona, where filming occurred for the scene of Jesse and Todd burying Todd's housekeeper. Gilligan had the idea of shooting in the region after multiple helicopter trips between California and Albuquerque, noting the landscape's natural beauty. Gilligan received special permission from the
Navajo Nation for backroad travel in the Painted Desert for filming. Paul and Plemons reached the Painted Desert set by a helicopter flown by Gilligan himself, who was a licensed pilot. The scene where Todd sings "
Sharing the Night Together" in his El Camino was also shot in the area; Gilligan noted that Plemons improvised the gesture Todd gives to the truck driver. Gilligan later referred to his time filming in the Painted Desert as the single best day of directing in his career. Another sequence filmed outside Albuquerque was the concluding scene of Jesse driving towards his new life in
Haines, Alaska. Gilligan wanted to use the
Haines Highway to shoot on location, as he had looked up Alaska's major highways online and found it to be the prettiest. However, production found that option expensive and instead used a similar setting outside
Jackson, Wyoming. During the day of filming, the crew took advantage of low cloud cover to hide the
Grand Tetons in the background, which allowed them to avoid using digital technology to remove the landmark in post-production. For the preceding scene of Jesse's final conversation with Ed Galbraith in the parking lot outside Haines, filming occurred at the
Sandia Crest, a ridgeline at the high point of the
Sandia Mountains which overlooks Albuquerque.
Secrecy El Camino was held in great secrecy from the start of pre-production. Certain cast members were approached for the film without knowing it was for a
Breaking Bad continuation, and some kept that fact secret from their families when production began. The producers were very protective of the script during this period; cast and crew members needed to be physically present in front of them in order to read the one copy, which was kept under lock and key. Only near the start of shooting did rumors float that a
Breaking Bad film was beginning development, with Paul returning as Jesse. The film was listed under the title
Greenbrier at the New Mexico Film Office to further deflect attention during production, with the only description in the logline saying that it "tracks the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom". 's cameo as
Walter White was filmed in absolute secrecy during his two-day break from the Broadway play
Network.
Bryan Cranston, who starred as Walter White on the series, confirmed the project but claimed not to have seen a script, although he showed interest in participating if Gilligan called for it. He ultimately appeared in
El Camino, flying to Albuquerque in a private jet to shoot his scenes within the span of 36 hours. At the time he was starring in the
Broadway production
Network, but used a two-day break in January for filming. As Cranston had grown his hair out since the series ended, the makeup team used a
bald cap and
fake moustache to achieve the appearance of Walter White, with additional visual effects added during post-production to perfect his look. Filming for the diner scene occurred first, with the set containing only crew members and their families serving as extras in order to keep the shoot confidential. Despite the enclosed filming location, numerous locals spotted the show's iconic RV in the diner's parking lot. To deflect attention, the crew made the excuse that they were shooting a commercial for a
Breaking Bad tour. Cranston shot the hallway scene the next day, then immediately returned to the airport, arriving in New York in time to perform that same evening. To prevent paparazzi photos, production heavily disguised Cranston when escorting him between and throughout the set, and told him to avoid seeing Paul in public when filming had concluded for the day. Similar measures were taken to ensure that news of filming did not reach the locals, with cast and crew under tight restrictions about what they could say about the project. Cast members wore large cloaks to disguise their identities when heading to the set or when shooting outside in public places, and their characters were given code names. When off the set, the cast could not see one another in public, and when recognized they would lie about working on the film. By the time the media began making a connection between
Greenbrier and
Breaking Bad, filming had mostly been completed. After news broke that the film would be a
Breaking Bad sequel, representatives for AMC, Netflix, and Sony Pictures TV all declined to comment regarding the project's existence. A month after this announcement, Paul remained coy about the film's status, claiming in an interview that he had not heard anything regarding a
Breaking Bad movie. Filming for
Better Call Sauls fifth season took place shortly after
El Camino finished shooting, in order to take advantage of the assembled crew. As such, cast members of
Better Call Saul became aware of the film but swore to secrecy on the project. Days before
El Camino was officially announced,
Bob Odenkirk, who starred as Saul Goodman on
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul, teased that filming had already been completed and said the producers had done "an amazing job of keeping it a secret".
Editing The elongated production schedule provided more time for editor
Skip Macdonald to work on
El Caminos individual scenes and build the film's overall flow. Macdonald, who also served as editor on
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul, described maintaining rhythm and pacing without the use of
commercial breaks as one of the biggest differences between his work on the film and the two television series. He also felt that Gilligan's greater leeway during filming resulted in more interesting pieces and design shots during the editing process. Gilligan waited until filming completed before entering the cutting room to give feedback; his initial viewing of Macdonald's
rough cut was his first time seeing any production footage edited together.
El Caminos rough cut had an original runtime of three hours, with an estimated 30 percent of footage left out of the finished film. MacDonald mentioned the necessity of excising scenes to sustain audience interest while also preventing the film from exceeding its runtime. One story development removed during post-production involved Jesse getting shot in the side during his final showdown with Neil and Casey. This would have been followed by Ed Galbraith finding a wounded Jesse at the vacuum store the following morning, the latter subsequently opening his car's trunk to reveal the cash he acquired to fulfill his end of the bargain. While Paul asked to keep this sequence in the final cut, Gilligan felt it provided little payoff for the viewers and chose to remove it to let the film reach its conclusion sooner. Other scenes shortened for runtime included Jesse further relaxing in his hotel room before meeting with Walter White and an extended sequence of Jesse and Jane during their road trip. Gilligan confirmed the deleted and extended scenes would be available as bonus features for
El Caminos home video release. == Music ==