Netflix's Sequel To A 10/10 Crime Series Is A Masterpiece In Its Own Right

Published Sep 11, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

Netflix made the decision to cap its crime series masterpiece with a movie epilogue, and what could have been a throwaway bone for fans ended up as a 10/10 production in its own right. Wrapping up a TV series with a movie is an economical, generally satisfying compromise for fans and critics.

Deadwood, Firefly, and Prison Break all got movie finales that helped tie up loose ends and make sure characters and storylines weren't left hanging. In more recent years, even shows with complete endings have received movies. These have served more as epilogues, allowing the showrunners to say just one more thing on their mind.

The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die and Veronica Mars: The Movie are not so much fulfillments of a last season, but an additional story that keeps the show alive a little bit longer. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie also fits this category, as an epilogue to Breaking Bad.

El Camino premiered on Netflix in October 2019, coming as a bit of a surprise. Breaking Bad ended in September 2013 with one of the great TV series finales, and it seemed that the story had been cleanly tied up. Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) redemptive ride into the sunset was an appropriate farewell, allowing us to imagine any future for the tortured young man.

Vince Gilligan was clearly imagining his character's future as well, and wanted to put it on screen. El Camino is set minutes after the events of the Breaking Bad series finale, beginning with Jesse speeding away from the Brotherhood compound, in Todd's (Jesse Plemons) Chevrolet El Camino.

Even Without Breaking Bad, Netflix's El Camino Would Be A Masterpiece

The rest of El Camino involves Jesse's flight from New Mexico, presented alongside flashbacks to his imprisonment and a few choice scenes with Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter), reprising her role from Breaking Bad. The movie is filled with characters introduced in the original show as well.

It certainly works better if you've seen Breaking Bad, but even if El Camino was a standalone film, it would be considered a fantastic neo-Western. Vince Gilligan's direction and writing shine through as well in El Camino as they have in any of his shows, and the momentum of the film is breakneck.

The entire movie feels like it's on a timer, and every second we spend watching Jesse not getting out of a dodge is another second it feels like he's never going to escape. Jesse becomes a true gunslinger, and though we watched the transformation over five seasons of Breaking Bad, his final metamorphosis occurs in El Camino, and that alone is worth watching.

El Camino's Ending Works Perfectly Alongside Breaking Bad AND Better Call Saul

El Camino indeed works better as a companion to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad is Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) story, and his last-minute rescue of Jesse earns him just enough karmic goodness that he dies on top, the mastermind badass he always wanted to be.

Better Call Saul is Jimmy McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) story, and his acceptance of responsibility lands him in jail, but also earns him respect, love, and a self-contentment he's been looking for. Jesse is the third part of this story, but he has already paid for his sins in Breaking Bad. El Camino is about Jesse earning his freedom after having it stripped away, and he does so with a poise, calm, and intelligence that he's built up over Breaking Bad.

The flashback in El Camino to Jesse imagining what he would be doing if he wasn't in the drug business is mirrored in the two shows, and it's telling that only Jesse's wish comes true.