Giancarlo Esposito explains why he didn't join Breaking Bad cast at SAG Awards

Giancarlo Esposito has explained why he didn't join the Breaking Bad cast at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.

The famous cast cooked up an on-stage reunion last month (24 February) to present the award for Ensemble in a Drama Series, which they won a decade ago.

Breaking Bad fans were more than delighted to see Bryan Cranston link up in LA with his old cast mates Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, Bob Odenkirk, Dean Norris, Jonathan Banks and R.J. Mitte.

During the spelling-word skit, Gunn said: “Ensemble - the E stands for the excellence that each cast member brings to every exciting episode. E.”

Odenkirk was quick to respond: “And the letter N… N stands for no, no f**king way I'm going to do this cheesy thing where you say each letter of the word. I'm not doing it.”

Paul told him: “I think we have to, it’s on the teleprompter.”

“Teleprompter my a*s – I got a beer and a couple of shots backstage, so let’s get this thing going,” Norris added.

The bit continued as Banks joked that SAG ‘can’t fire us, so f**k ‘em’ before Cranston joked: “That’s the true ensemble spirit right there ladies and gentlemen.”

Netflix

Although fans loved the skit, they wanted to know where fellow cast-member Esposito was.

The 65-year-old famously played restaurant entrepreneur and narcotics distributor Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad.

“WHERE IS GUS?” one person tweeted, as another added: “When Gus finds out he wasn’t invited.”

AMC

In an interview with LADbible, Esposito has revealed the real reason why he wasn't there.

“I was working. I was invited and would have loved to have been there," he told us.

"But sadly, I was doing a commercial that weekend with Spike Lee.

"And so I couldn't make it.”

Opening up about his old character Gus, Esposito added: "I think that when it comes to business, Gustavo Fring is all business.

"Although I think he hires meth cooks and chefs who are the best.

"But he demands excellence. And I think what you people really may not know is that Gustavo can cook himself. He is that good."

The legendary actor stars in Guy Ritchie's new The Gentlemen series, playing American billionaire and methamphetamine mogul Stanley Johnson.

"It was [exciting] to be able to play one of the richest men in the world, and to have him be African American, is just even more fitting," he said.

Netflix

"I was excited to be able to work with Guy Ritchie and be in conversations with him about who this guy really was, underneath at all, and to join this incredible British cast of really fine actors who are telling Guy Ritchie's tale in such an eloquent way."

The eight-part Netflix series follows the Duke of Halstead, Eddie Horniman (Theo James), in a sort of spin-off from the 2019 film of the same name.

Horniman is a soldier who returns to his family seat after the death of his father.

He then unwittingly inherits the entire estate - including a secret family drug business - over his older brother Frederick 'Freddy' Horniman (Daniel Inge).

Ray Winstone stars as drug kingpin Bobby Glass, who runs a London-based industrial cannabis empire from prison.

Meanwhile, Kaya Scodelario plays Susie Glass, Bobby’s fashionable and ruthless daughter, handling the drug operation while her dad is locked up.

Vinnie Jones also features as the estate's groundskeeper Geoff Seacombe.

The Gentlemen is available to watch on Netflix now.