Breaking Bad's Dean Norris Says It Was 'Surreal' Returning as Hank Schrader in Better Call Saul
Hank Schrader is back.
The DEA agent who was killed in Breaking Bad ‘s final season returned for the latest episode of prequel series Better Call Saul.
In the episode — which takes place years before the start of — the flagship series — Hank (Dean Norris) and his partner Gomez (Steven Michael Guezada) arrive at the police precinct to interview a suspect who has been arrested during a drug bust.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Morris, 56, said that he and Peter Gould, who created Better Call Saul with Breaking Bad‘s Vince Gilligan, had been discussing Norris’ return for several years.
“It always came down to be that I asked him, ‘Just don’t let it be a gratuitous return, just to say he’s in it,’ ” Norris said. “And when they called me to ask me to do it, the only question I asked was, ‘Do you think it’s worth him coming back?’ “
“Vince said, ‘Yes,’ ” Norris revealed. “And I said, ‘Well, if you say yes, then I’m in. He told me that one of their rules has always been to never do the original show any harm. He thought that was the case with this particular return, so I was like, ‘Great, let’s do it.’ “
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Norris said that returning to play Hank seven years after Breaking Bad wrapped was “surreal.”
“Obviously, that show had such an impact on my life — on everyone’s life — and I have such great memories, and here we are more than 10 years later, at least from the start of the show, where I first met Steve Michael Quezada,” he said.
“So it was weird and it was great and it just brought back good memories,” Norris added. “It brought back a lot of reminiscing; so much of the crew is the same — at least half if not more. And, of course, being back in Albuquerque and all the feelings you’ve had of that time that had been passed. So now I get to go back and revisit all that stuff — and it was really special.”
Despite the long time-gap and several acting roles in between, Norris said his ability to play Hank “came back quickly” thanks to the show’s strong writing.
“It’s hard to act when the lines aren’t good, but it’s easy to act when you have great writers,” he explained. “And they got right back into the Hank Schrader of the early years, and it was easy to just go with the script and go with the words. And once I learned the words the character came right back.”
Norris starred as Hank for all five seasons of Breaking Bad. The critically acclaimed series aired from 2008 to 2013 on AMC and also starred Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Betsty Brandt, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks.
Now, Odenkirk, 57, stars in Better Call Saul as Jimmy McGill, showing his transformation into the criminal-for-hire Saul Goodman. Banks and Esposito have also reprised their respective roles as Mike Ehrantraut and Gus Fring in the prequel series.
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Ahead of the season 5 premiere, AMC announced that Better Call Saul would be ending with a 13-episode sixth season in 2021.
“From the beginning when we started this, I think all our hopes and dreams were to be able to tell the whole story … and make it to be a complete story from beginning to end,” Gould said. “We’re going to try like hell to stick the landing of these 63.”
Better Call Saul airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
