Breaking Bad: the end of the series could have been completely different

What if the Breaking Bad series had been completely different? This is a possibility that was explored by the team of writers working on the series with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. Remember that it tells the story of the rise of a chemistry professor into a drug lord and how his apprentice will little by little discover the hidden side of his mentor.

Asked by Slash Movie, producer Thomas Schnauz shared some of the behind-the-scenes writing of Vince Gilligan’s series, and revealed that a completely different plot had been imagined for the end of the show. Past episode 5 of season 5 –

which ends with the tragic death of a child – the relationship between Jesse and Walt had to change completely:

When we write, we make flowcharts. We wonder: what if this happened? And also this? And one of the logical things [après l’épisode 5] were Jesse being in the meth business but being proud of what he does and pretty good at it, and the money is flowing. The logical thing then is that Jesse continues the adventure and Walt becomes too ill to continue helping him or leaves his place and lets Jesse run the operations.

Except that this plot was not kept and in the rest of season 5, it finally happens the opposite, with Jesse wanting to stop meth and the outlaw life out of guilt, and Walt becoming more moreover “above ground” and continuing at all costs, as Schnauz reminds us:

“Walt, [contrairement à Jesse], can compartmentalize. They did terrible things (…). So many of these things that he is depressed and tries to convince Jesse that: ‘sure they were horrible things, but you have to be strong and move forward, and follow me in this success’. Mike is leaving and Walt doesn’t want to be alone.”

Interestingly, Jesse was originally supposed to become a mob boss instead of Walt. However, this would have resulted in a less emotionally strong series, because it is precisely Walt’s journey, who goes from meth “cook” to pay his medical bills to head of an entire network, which left an impression on the spectators. Especially with, in parallel, the life of the young apprentice Jesse who, realizing that his mentor has gone wrong, tries to get out of it by all means.

AMC

Jesse’s narrative arc continues after the end of Breaking Bad in the TV movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story. It allows us to know what has become of this young man traumatized by his experience alongside Walter White, all with a few surprises.

The Breaking Bad universe was also expanded with the excellent series Better Call Saul, dedicated to the crooked lawyer Saul Goodman played by Bob Odenkirk and taking place BEFORE his first appearance in the main series. In short, if you like Breaking Bad, there’s still plenty to do!