"Like I Had Lost My Mind:" Breaking Bad Creator's Plan To Kill Off This Character Was Immediately Shut Off By The Writers

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan originally planned to kill off one of the show’s most important characters, but his writers thankfully managed to talk him out of it. Over the course of Breaking Bad’s five seasons, there were around 300 deaths. More than half of these dead characters were taken out in the mid-air plane collision in season 2, but the rest were wiped out in gangland disputes, prison massacres, and cold-blooded murders.

A lot of Breaking Bad’s deaths were Walt’s fault, directly or indirectly. When Jane overdosed on heroin and choked on her own vomit, Walt stood idly by and watched it happen. When Mike refused to give up his guys’ identities, Walt shot him dead out of spite. When Gus went to Hector’s nursing home to gloat one last time, Walt blew off half his face with a wheelchair bomb. Walt could’ve had one more death on his conscience — and it would’ve affected him more than any of the others — but Gilligan was talked out of it.

Vince Gilligan Once Pitched Killing Walter Jr. In Breaking Bad

His Writing Staff Instantly Rejected The Idea

Close

In 2018, five years after Breaking Bad ended, Gilligan and all the main cast members reunited on Conan for a retrospective discussion of the show. During this interview (via Team Coco), it came to light that Gilligan had planned to kill off Walt, Jr. near the beginning of the series. In the early years of Breaking Bad’s run, Gilligan planned for Walt, Jr. to be “killed by this nasty guy that Walt is somehow in business with.” He didn’t have it all planned out — he didn’t even determine who the killer would be — but it was on the cards.

In the early years of Breaking Bad’s run, Gilligan planned for Walt, Jr. to be “killed by this nasty guy that Walt is somehow in business with.”

However, when Gilligan actually pitched the idea to his writers, they weren’t as enthusiastic about it as he was. He said, “All my writers looked at me like I had lost my mind.” In the initial seasons of a TV show, the writers tend to look for a hook that will get viewers invested for the long run. Mad Men introduced Don Draper’s secret identity as Dick Whitman. Walt, Jr.’s death certainly would’ve been shocking, but Gilligan’s writers were right to talk him out of it.

Breaking Bad Was Right Not To Kill Walter Jr. After All

Disowning His Father Was The Perfect Ending To Walt Jr.'s Story

Keeping Walt, Jr. alive until the end was the right call. Having Heisenberg’s teenage son around, getting increasingly suspicious of his dad’s strange behavior, made for some really compelling drama over the years. And Walt, Jr. was such a kind, innocent kid that he didn’t deserve to have anything bad happen to him. Disowning his dad after discovering his dark secrets was the perfect conclusion to Walt, Jr.’s story. It ended his Breaking Bad arc on a tragic note without meeting an undeserved violent demise.

Source: Team Coco