Not many actors can say that they got to play the same character on two different shows, but Jonathan Banks can, and now he's reflecting on his time playing Mike Ehrmantraut in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
From 2009 to 2022, Banks played Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. While he was more of a complementary character and fan favorite on Breaking Bad, Ehrmantraut was part of the main cast in Better Call Saul, where his story was expanded on a lot more. Having played the character for over a decade, Banks talked about what it was like to play one of the Breaking Bad universe's more tragic characters.
Banks reflected on what it was like to play the elderly hitman Ehrmantraut on both shows. Banks takes great pride in playing Ehrmantraut, believing that it's his role. "Mike is mine. Mike is mine," he told the New York Times. Banks even added that playing him has changed him as a person. "I think the honest thing to say is if I really think about it, maybe Mike has changed Johnny, too. I think Jonathan Banks, by playing Mike, became a little more silent, a little less rambunctious. And by silent, I mean, I think I listen a little more than I did 12, 13 years ago. I don’t like to use the word witness, but that’s what’s coming to mind. I think he possibly affected me in that I’m a little more patient. Maybe that comes with age anyway."
Coming into Better Call Saul, Ehrmantraut was already among the more well-liked characters in the Breaking Bad universe because, unlike some people, he actually did what he did for his family. His stern persona coupled with his criminal genius, not to mention his looking like any other elderly man, made him so endearing to fans of the show. To see the showrunners expand further on him in Better Call Saul was risky because they could have ruined the character, but luckily, they made someone who was already well-liked become all the more compelling by detailing how he morphed himself into becoming Gustavo Fring's righthand man in his meth empire.
When fans think of Better Call Saul's best episodes, they usually think of the ones that came later on because of how much the characters were changing compared to the beginning. However, "Five-O," the series' sixth episode of its first season, deserves special mention as one of its best. That episode detailed Mike's backstory as to how he wound up in Albuquerque and what his motive was to be who he would become in both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. The tragedy surrounding his son's death and how Mike broke him beforehand instantly changed the viewers' perception of him, thus the episode easily stood out as the first season's best. None of that would have been possible without Banks' phenomenal performance, which earned him an Emmy Award in 2015.
The development that comes afterwards also makes Banks all the more compelling as Ehrmantraut upon re-watch of Breaking Bad. While viewers knew beforehand that he had a granddaughter who he loved and took care of, there were only mere hints of his backstory given in passing by Hank Schrader while he was trying to arrest Mike. Now that viewers know what drove him into the criminal underworld and the heartbreak that came before, Ehrmantraut continued building his case as perhaps the one character every fan universally loved when it was all said and done. The only hangup is that viewers never got to see closure for Mike's granddaughter and daughter-in-law.
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul can be streamed on Netflix.
Source: New York Times