Back in 2007, actor Jesse Plemons found himself at the heart of a controversial murder subplot on the otherwise corpse-free football drama "Friday Night Lights." With his latest small-screen role on AMC's "Breaking Bad," few would bat an eyelash at the idea of Plemons partaking in the lethal game of thrones that is Heisenberg's crystal meth empire  but even those fans might be surprised at just how dark the former Landry Clarke's story is about to get.

Plemons' "Breaking Bad" character, bug exterminator Todd, didn't leave much of an impression when he was introduced a few episodes ago. But in "Dead Freight," the episode debuting on Sunday (August 12), he'll make a much bigger splash  one that left actor Aaron Paul virtually speechless when MTV News caught up with him at Comic-Con this summer.

"Man, I gotta tell you. He's a brilliant actor. But such a complex, interesting character," Paul said when asked about Plemons' contributions to the series. "I'm not going to give anything away, but Todd may or may not complicate things a bit. It just gets so dark this season. I don't even know what to say."

"There's some friction when he joins the group," leading man Bryan Cranston added of Todd when we spoke with him a few months ago. "We think we know him, and then it's like, 'What just happened? What did he do?' It's fun for [Plemons] to play because it keeps him guessing, and it keeps Walter White and Jesse Pinkman] as a partnership guessing, too."

Even as Paul and Cranston are left wondering what will happen with Plemons' character next (fans will be wondering the same question after "Dead Freight," too), there's no uncertainty surrounding the invaluable new energy the actor brings to the final phase of "Breaking Bad."

"He's a great kid with a good attitude," said Cranston. "A really good actor. He's a nice addition. There's an interesting quality to him: he seems older than he is. There's a presence and a weight to him that makes him seem more advanced."

Tell us what you think about Plemons' work on "Breaking Bad" in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @roundhoward!