Bob Odenkirk Boasts The Record For Most Appearances In The Breaking Bad Universe
Through five seasons of "Breaking Bad," six seasons of "Better Call Saul," and the film "El Camino," the creators of the "Breaking Bad" universe had time to thoroughly develop several strong characters. Some core characters only appear in one show or the other, except for cameos. For example, although Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is the protagonist of "Breaking Bad," he is barely in "Better Call Saul" because he was not yet involved in criminal activity for most of that time period. On the other hand, Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) is a central character in "Better Call Saul," but is not in "Breaking Bad," because she is no longer in Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) life by the time he starts working with Walter during "Breaking Bad."
However, because the shows explore the same universe, some of the characters appear in both shows with some level of regularity. These include Saul/Jimmy, Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis), Nacho Varga (Michael Mando), Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz), and more. Out of all these recurring characters in the "Breaking Bad" universe, it turns out that Bob Odenkirk was in the most episodes between both shows.
Bob Odenkirk was in 106 episodes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
As Odenhead tweeted, "Saul Goodman was supposed to appear in only 4 episodes at the end of S2 of Breaking Bad. He ended up being the character with the most episodes in the universe." Although Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) quirky lawyer was not originally meant to be a long-standing character, he ended up being a core part of "Breaking Bad" and even having his own spin-off prequel series as the protagonist.
Bob Odenkirk appeared in 43 episodes of "Breaking Bad" and 63 episodes of "Better Call Saul," for a total of 106 episodes in the "Breaking Bad" universe. By comparison, Walter White appeared in 62 episodes of "Breaking Bad," but only two episodes of "Better Call Saul," totaling only 64 episodes.
Other characters who were close to being in the most episodes of both shows combined include Mike Ehrmantraut, who was in 28 episodes of "Breaking Bad" and 61 episodes of "Better Call Saul," for a total of 89 episodes, and Gustavo Fring appeared in 26 episodes of "Breaking Bad" and 38 episodes of "Better Call Saul," totaling 64 episodes, like Walter White. Other characters who are also in 64 episodes include Jesse Pinkman, Skyler White (Anna Gunn), and Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). But nobody comes close to Saul/Jimmy.
In addition to being the character to appear in the most episodes, Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill is also the fan favorite "Better Call Saul" character.