Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul Ready for Odd Couple to Get Odder

Aaron Paul says he looks up to hisBreaking Bad co-star, Bryan Cranston, and now he's found a perfect way to emulate him. Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman, Walter White's partner-in-meth on the AMC drama, just earned his first Emmy nomination, for best supporting dramatic actor. Cranston received his second nod in the lead dramatic actor category, which he won last year. We talked to Paul about the future of the show, how close Jesse might get to Walt, and what it's like to play Scott, the anti-Jesse, on Big Love.
TVGuide.com: You really got to shine this season on Breaking Bad.
Aaron Paul: Thanks, man. Running around with Bryan Cranston is always fun and I wish I could work with some of the other regular cast members because I love them all so much as human beings. But story-wise, that just can't really happen. Just to be able to do these crazy antics with Jesse and Mr. White, I think is hilarious. Like in Season 1, when the melted body, from acid, comes crashing through the ceiling. You find yourself laughing at it and then you realize you're a very dark individual.
TVGuide.com: What do you see happening next?
Paul: At the end of the season, Jesse needs to find a new place to stay and it looks like Skyler is kind of wanting Walt out of the house. And I hope maybe in Season 3, Jesse and Mr. White can kind of team up and actually be the odd couple and be roommates.
TVGuide.com: Jesse's girlfriend, Jane, overdosed last season. Will John de Lancie be back next season as her air traffic controller father, Donald?
Paul: Mr. John De Lancie will be coming back, yes, absolutely. I think there's going to be a lot of guilt there and opportunities for great, crazy stuff to happen. I don't think Walt really knows that he, at the end of the day, was the one who caused this plane crash. Because he did. I think Jane's father is going to be feeling a lot of guilt for not insisting on taking his daughter away [to rehab]. ... I see him putting that guilt on someone else, and that person will probably be Jesse.
TVGuide.com: It feels inevitable that Jesse will relapse, despite his own trip to rehab. Can he be like Walt — a dealer who doesn't use meth himself?
Paul: I think it'd be interesting if they tried to keep it that way for a little bit because he saw what happens. His love was taken away because of the drug. People ask: Do you think Walt's ever going to tell Jesse that it's his fault and not Jesse's fault that she died, because Jesse's taking 100 percent of the blame for it. And so I think that's going to be part of the thing to keep Jesse sober, but also probably part of the thing that makes Jesse relapse as well.
TVGuide.com: On Big Love last season, Sarah and your character, Scott, got engaged. Will they last?
Paul: You never know. Big Love's always, "What is going on?" Especially this last season. They went really, really intense this last season, which I love.
TVGuide.com: How would you compare Scott and Jesse?
Paul: Scott is just this straight-edge, very religious kid who wears button-up collared shirts, khakis, loafers. Like this all-around somewhat good kid, I think. Maybe he shouldn't be attracted to such a young girl, but I don't know. You can't fight love. And Jesse, he's just this lost soul that got mixed up in the wrong crowd and he wears clothes entirely too big for him. He's constantly wearing beanies and hoodies and smoking crystal meth.
TVGuide.com: Who do you relate to more?
Paul: I'm absolutely the smoking-crystal-meth kid. No, no, no, no. I think I kind of meet in the middle between these characters.