‘Breaking Bad’ Star Jonathan Banks to Play Ben’s Dad on ‘Parks and Rec’

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Get excited people: Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks, otherwise known as the stone cold cleaner and hitman Mike Ehrmantraut, will be making an appearance on the fifth season of Parks and Recreation. According to HitFix, the actor will play the father of Adam Scott’s Ben Wyatt. It looks like Banks will appear in the season’s sixth episode, along with another newly reported star. Character actress Glenne Headly will play Ben’s mom. So yeah, Ben’s parents are pretty amazing, and we kind of wish we were invited to the family reunion.

What’s even better about this news is that co-creator Mike Schur has revealed that the Breaking Bad favorite will essentially be playing his character on the NBC series. “We were working the character description of Ben’s dad, and I said aloud, ‘He should act like Mike Ehrmentraut.’ So somebody said, ‘Well, why can’t we just get Jonathan Banks?'” TV Guide reports that Headly’s Julia is a “warm and charming woman,” but has a bit of a dark side — so she’s basically a great foil for Banks. Unfortunately, dear old dad will be showing up to meet Leslie and Ben with a much younger girlfriend. It’s like someone had crazy mind powers and saw the crossover we were all dreaming about. Stay tuned for the season premiere of Parks and Rec September 13 at 9:30pm on NBC.

Update: In other Breaking Bad news, it looks like Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus Fring could be making an appearance in the second half of the AMC drama’s final season. Spoiler alert: The actor recently told E! Online that “there has been talk” about his character making a comeback. He revealed, “I want to come back in Walt’s [Bryan Cranston] dream and haunt him.” A ghostly Gus would delight us to no end. Supernatural Los Pollos Hermanos power!