WORLD CLASS
As the gritty futuristic drama Westworld enters its fourth season, star Aaron Paul tells Tiffany Bakker what makes it so popular
WWITH BREAKING BAD AND WITH WESTWORLD, THE ENTIRE CAST AND CREW – TOP OF THE LINE TO THE BOTTOM – THEY BELIEVED IN THESE STORIES AND THEY’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEM
HEN Aaron Paul showed up for work on the third season of acclaimed sci-fi saga Westworld, he admits he felt slightly daunted going into a show that was already well established. “I definitely felt like the new kid in school when I started,” Paul says via Zoom from the Idaho home where he lives with his wife, actor and director Lauren Parsekian, and their two children. “But I was very blessed that the cast and crew welcomed me with such open arms. And by the time
I dived into season four, I very much felt like I was a big part of the Westworld family.”
In the HBO series based on the 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name, an android uprising at an adult theme park spills over into the real world. Paul enters the story as Caleb, a disillusioned army vet who falls under the sway of robot revolutionary Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood).
“It is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, but this very hard, very complicated show is so rewarding,” Paul says.
“This season is so much bigger, but also it does feel like it’s grounded in a futuristic reality, which is terrifying. But our fan base loves the complexity of the show and they come with us.”
Paul, of course, knows a thing or two about cult TV fan bases. He famously played high-school-dropout-turned-meth-cook Jesse Pinkman (alongside Bryan Cranston’s Walter White) for five seasons of Breaking Bad, often cited as one of the greatest TV series ever made. His performance on the award-winning drama netted him three supporting actor Emmys and the show, despite ending almost a decade ago, remains firmly entrenched in his DNA.
In 2019, he starred in the Netflix original film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which follows Jesse through events that take place after the Breaking Bad finale. In April, Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould confirmed that Paul and Cranston will reprise their roles in the final season of the Breaking Bad spinoff series, the second half of which airs next month on Stan.
So, what is it about shows such as Breaking Bad and Westworld that makes fans and critics swoon? “You never know what’s going to hit, you really don’t,” Paul says, but he credits screenwriters for making a series come alive. “You can get a very talented actor to try their best to make terrible writing OK, but it’s got to be on the page,” Paul explains. “The cast and the crew need to believe in the story they’re telling. With Breaking Bad and with Westworld, the entire cast and crew – top of the line to the bottom – they believed in these stories and they’re passionate about them.”
However, Paul says there is one significant difference from where his life was at when he scored the role of Jesse on Breaking
Bad – which meant relocating to New Mexico and immersing himself completely in the show – to where it is now. “I jumped on board Westworld right after I had my first baby,” he reveals, “so it was my first time going to work where I had a little one back home waiting for me, which I didn’t have during Breaking Bad, so that was rough. It was hard to leave my kid.
“I took a lot of time off just to be with my new growing family, but then also having a little one at home and trying to work – it was tough juggling being a dad, a husband and then diving into the monster that is Westworld. It was challenging.”
Not that Paul would have it any other way. “I just feel blessed to have a job,” he says, “and be part of this beautiful, complex big show.”
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