The character of Jesse Pinkman endured a lot across Veronica Mars. On both shows, Paul showed early glimpses of what he would eventually offer with his breakout role. Also before that, however, Paul landed his first recurring role as Scott Quittman on HBO's Big Love.
It was, of course, as the long-suffering partner of Walter White descended into outright villainy, became Breaking Bad's emotional heart and moral center. Paul's portrayal of Jesse's sympathetic evolution earned him numerous awards.
In the wake of Breaking Bad's acclaimed series finale, Paul found himself understandably inundated with film offers. One of the first was the opportunity to play the lead in the big-screen video game adaptation, Paul would later go on to call it an especially difficult time in his life and career.
While Paul's personal life flourished - with the actor marrying Lauren Parsekian and welcoming a daughter - his career remained staggered. Paul would also later lament how everybody just wanted him to play variations of Jesse Pinkman. In Central Intelligence. However, it was requested he emulate the signature "bitch" catchphrase associated with Jesse Pinkman.
The tide turned when Gilligan approached him with the idea of directly revisiting Jesse. Although the Breaking Bad series finale effectively wrapped up the bulk of the show's threads, many believed Jesse's story was left too ambiguous. Gilligan ultimately came to agree, going on to write and produce El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story with as much secrecy as he could. The feature-length sequel was eventually released in October 2019. It was met with all-but unanimous praise, most notably for Paul's once again revelatory performance. El Camino also served to give Jesse Pinkman a much more definitive (and comparatively) happy ending. This was something Paul would later refer to as cathartic for him as for audiences.
Paul would continue to explore that resurgence on television. Though he'd already enjoyed a main role on Hulu's Westworld season 3. As such, while Breaking Bad will always hold a special plan in fans' hearts, Paul is determined to prove he still has much more to offer.