Not even the biggest Mr. Show fan would have expected Saul Goodman to be the Breaking Bad character to get a spinoff series. And not even the biggest Breaking Bad fan would have expected Better Call Saul to be such a nuanced, rich series, equal (if not exceeding) the show that proceeded it. Most would have expected a spinoff to go to the series compelling villain Gus Fring.Giancarlo Esposito agrees. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Esposito admitted, “I would’ve loved to have examined that part of Gustavo’s life. If there were a [spinoff] show — which I, in my brain, have already created — you’d see that there’s the other side of Gus.” He even had a title for the show, dubbing it “The Rise of Gus,” and explained that it would reveal “where [Gus] came from in Chile and how he was a made man there, but he was made in politics. He could have become the president running the country, but he decided to give all that up to become self-made in America.” Given that synopsis, it sounds like The Rise of Gus would be a companion piece to both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});When we first met Gus Fring in the episode “Mandala” from Breaking Bad‘s second season, he already appeared to have achieved a type of American Dream. The courteous man who met with Walter White to inquire about the quality of the chicken served by his restaurant, Los Pollos Hermanos, seemed well-put-together and in control, successful in his business. Over the next seasons of Breaking Bad and in Better Call Saul, we saw just how much Gustavo Fring had truly achieved, coming from Chile to the United States to take control of the area’s drug smuggling trade.But if The Rise of Gus were to happen, it would fully flesh out the story, certainly borrowing from classic crime narratives such as Scarface and The Godfather, stories about people who come to America and find their dreams can be fulfilled… as long as they work outside of the law.Such a story would pair nicely with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Creator Vince Gilligan has never been secretive about the fact that both shows grapple with the American Dream, albeit cynically. Even at the start of Breaking Bad, Walter White is a nondescript science teacher who must turn to crime when the American healthcare system fails to meet his medical needs. His assent as Heisenberg happens outside of legitimate, legal channels, an assent made more striking by revelations about his work at Grey Matter Technologies.Better Call Saul complicates things even further, showing how a talented lawyer like Jimmy McGill can’t find an ethical way to use his talents, nor can his even more intelligent (and less self-destructive) brother Chuck. As Jimmy transforms into Saul Goodman, he achieves some degree of stability, if not quite success. And even that goes away with the fall of Heisenberg’s Empire.We may know the ultimate explosive end that Gus Fring meets, but everything up unto that point plays like the paradigmatic American Dream. Gus comes from another country with nothing in his pockets. Through his brilliance and hard work, he makes opportunities for himself. He takes unglamorous but steady work in the fast food industry to subsidize his dream, and keeps it around to help him expand his earnings. No chance goes wasted, no connection forgotten. He realized everything that America promises.It’s just that he had to be a criminal to do it, just like Heisenberg, just like Saul Goodman.At this point, it seems like The Rise of Gus will only exist inside Esposito’s head. But were it to be a reality, Vince Gilligan’s tryptic would be a coherent, and damning, look at America’s promises.The post Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito Pitches a Gus Fring American Dream Origin Show appeared first on Den of Geek.