Carol Burnett to Guest on Better Call Saul (Exclusive)

Carol Burnett, a TV legend and longtime Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fan, will guest star in the second half of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul, portraying a character named “Marion,” MovieMaker has learned exclusively.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of my favorite show,” Burnett said in a statement to MovieMaker.

It is unknown how many episodes Burnett will appear in, but the six-time Emmy winner will be in good company: As previously announced, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will also appear in Better Call Saul, reprising their Breaking Bad roles of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, when Saul returns for its final episodes beginning July 11.

Burnett is one of the most important figures in television history: Her series The Carol Burnett Show, which aired for more than a decade starting in 1967, was a runaway hit and the first show of its kind to be hosted by a woman. She later appeared in films including John Huston’s 1982 Annie, in which she played the villainous Miss Agatha Hannigan, and Peter Bogdanovich’s 1992 Noises Off. 

Her appearance on Better Call Saul isn’t as left-field as it may seem: She’s been a vocal fan of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul for years, telling Yahoo Entertainment in 2017 that she considers Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan “a genius.” She also recounted how she met him after discovering that they had shared a driver, and got in contact through that driver. Gilligan subsequently attended the taping of her Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special, which aired on CBS.

While promoting her Netflix series A Little Help With Carol Burnett on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2018, she told Kimmel: “I’m crazy about anything Vince Gilligan writes.”

Carol Burnett and the Saul team have stayed in touch since then: When the show’s lead, Bob Odenkirk, received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April, Burnett attended the ceremony.

Giancarlo Esposito, who plays chicken man/meth kingpin Gus Fring on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, tweeted that he had chatted with her at the ceremony. (Perhaps they discussed their shared birthday? Esposito turned 64 and Burnett turned 89 on April 26, a week after the ceremony.)

Esposito also declared Burnett “my comedy idol.”

Gilligan and Peter Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould are astute comedy lovers, as well — if they weren’t, there might not be a Better Call Saul. Way back in 2009, they chose Odenkirk, then best known for the brilliant cult HBO comedy series Mr. Show With Bob and David, to play the supporting role of criminal lawyer Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad. 

Odenkirk wrote in his recent memoir, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, that he was surprised to be offered the dramatic role, and assumed almost all of his lines would be cut.

They weren’t.

After Breaking Bad grew into a hit, and eventually concluded, Gilligan and Gould began to imagine a spinoff for Goodman, a kind of prequel/sequel that would explore the Breaking Bad universe in greater depth. And so Saul was born.

The first half of Season 6, in which Saul Goodman (Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) plotted revenge against Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), aired earlier this year. The series finale of Better Call Saul, produced by Sony Pictures Television, will air on AMC on August 15.

Main image: Better Call Saul colleagues Giancarlo Esposito and Carol Burnett, from Esposito’s Twitter account.