WARNING: Only spoilers for Seasons 4 and 5 will be walter whited out.
- Acting in the Dark: Bryan Cranston did not get the script for the finale of Season 4 until the preceding episodes had all been shot. He did not know that Walter's argument to Jesse about Gus' responsibility for Brock's poisoning had been based on a lie — and so Walt's performance in the penultimate episode was more convincing than usual.
- Actor-Inspired Element:
- Walt's physical appearance; his hair, moustache and being slightly overweight were all Bryan Cranston's suggestions. Walt's Heisenberg hat was also his idea to make his shaved head more comfortable in the weather during location shoots.
- Saul's combover was the first thing Bob Odenkirk suggested when he was invited to play the character.
- Odenkirk also playing Saul as a loudly overcompensating clown
, putting on a work front and acting like he’s enjoying himself with a few Beneath the Mask moments showing he’s not quite as confident as he seems, paved the way for the prequel. - Marie's profession (X-ray technician) was suggested by Betsy Brandt, because she wanted her to look respectable in a Labcoat of Science and Medicine but not actually be a doctor.
- Jesse shaving his head in the beginning of season 4 was Aaron Paul's idea.
- Vince Gilligan actually asked Giancarlo Esposito what he personally believed Gus would do as he was dying, so Gus straightening his tie just before he falls over dead was entirely his idea.
- Michael Bowen and Jesse Plemons created their own backstory for Jack and Todd's relationship off-camera, deciding that Todd was the son of Jack's sister and that Jack took him in after she kept bringing home abusive boyfriends that he had to kill. None of the actual history made it on-screen, but they did use it to fuel their relationship.
- Actor-Shared Background:
- In a commentary, Laura Fraser points out that the little girl who plays Lydia's daughter has the same birthday and is the exact same age as her own real-life daughter.
- Skyler White shares a birthday with Anna Gunn, although she's two years younger than the actress.
- RJ Mitte has cerebral palsy as does his character Walt Jr. However, Mitte's palsy is far less severe, so he had to alter his speech and learn to walk with crutches.
- Aluminum Christmas Trees:
- The Hoover Max Extract® Pressure Pro™ Model 60, a.k.a. the thing you ask the Vacuum Cleaner Shop for a dust filter for to let him know you need a disappearance, is an actual vacuum cleaner. However, as fridge brilliance, it's a wet carpet cleaner that doesn't use a dust filter, meaning that asking for one is a deliberate and specific tell that the request is bogus.
- In the fifth season, Lydia helps traffic Walt's metamphetamine to the Czech Republic. While that may seem like a random destination to pick, in reality it is one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to rate of metamphetamine abuse.
- Artist Disillusionment:
- Vince Gilligan has openly criticized people that throw pizzas on the house which was used for filming the White family, saying that a retired couple have lived there for some forty-odd years and don't deserve to be rudely harassed.
- While they still find him a great character, as more years have gone on, Vince and Peter find themselves deeply unsympathetic to Walter White, as he did so many terrible things and yet the audience rooted for him anyway, while of course despising anyone (especially Sky) who stood in his way.
- Vince Gilligan has openly criticized people that throw pizzas on the house which was used for filming
- Awesome, Dear Boy: Bill Burr fell in love with the show when it was airing, and so immediately requested his agent to find a way to get him on the show, no matter how small the role was. He ended up getting a recurring role as Patrick Kuby, one of Saul Goodman's employees.
- Beam Me Up, Scotty!:
- Walter is often associated with the line "Jesse, we need to cook", even though the line isn't actually said verbatim in the series. Walt does say variants of said phrase during the early seasons, but he never says Jesse's name before uttering it.
- Walter also never says "Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?" in "Box Cutter," despite the diner scene often being spoofed as him having said the quote.
- "Jesus Christ, Marie" was not actually said word-for-word in the show for a fairly long time, but fans kept mistaking it for an actual quote.
- "Yeah, science, bitch!" has gotten similar treatment due to its becoming a meme of its own, but the actual line was, "Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!" Presumably, the line was just suffixed with Jesse's immortalized love for the word "bitch". That said, in the joke ending where it turned out to be All Just a Dream of Hal from Malcolm in the Middle, he does say that Jesse would often be like "Yo, B-word! Yeah, science, B-word."
- At no point does Gustavo Fring ever utter the phrase "We are not the same". It was a completely independent phrase unrelated to Breaking Bad as a whole, and only began to be associated with Fring in September 2021 for unexplainable reasons.Note
- Many people assume that Mike Ehrmantraut always pronounces Walter's name as "Waltuh", due to Jonathan Banks' gravelly voice he provides for the character. In reality, Mike always pronounces Walter's name with the hard "R" sound over the course of the series. The misconception likely comes from the "Put your dick away Waltuh" meme, where the person imitating Mike's voice does drop the "R" sound.
- Billing Displacement: Despite playing the series' Deuteragonist and appearing in every episode, Aaron Paul has third billing, behind Anna Gunn.
- California Doubling: The Germany scenes were filmed at a high school in New Mexico, it's somewhat noticeable as it's way too sunny for most days in Germany.
- Career Resurrection: For Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks.
- In the years since Mr. Show, Odenkirk's acting career had taken a bit of a back seat to his career as the producer of shows like Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Tom Goes To The Mayor. Now as the series winds down his acting profile has been raised considerably and he got to be the star of the spinoff Better Call Saul, a new sketch comedy show and supporting roles in FX's Fargo miniseries, the James Ponsoldt film The Spectacular Now, and the Alexander Payne film Nebraska!.
- Jonathan Banks was previously well known for costarring in the TV series Wiseguy in the 80s and had mostly done low-profile parts since. His role as Mike netted him an Emmy nomination and opened the door for a series of parts in high-profile movies, as well as a season-long guest arc on Community. His performance here led to him reprising Mike and getting promoted to secondary protagonist in Better Call Saul.
- The Cast Showoff: Skinny Pete's actor Charles Baker is actually a very skilled pianist, which he demonstrates in one episode.
- Colbert Bump:
- The series might not show Albuquerque in the best light, but the place to pass through on the way to Santa Fe (and where Bugs Bunny keeps making a wrong turn) has reaped a substantial tourist benefit from the show's popularity. The Visitor's Bureau has a page dedicated to all the related tourist information. Albuquerque natives, for their part, enjoy the increased recognition (making about $1 million in tourist money per episode), but are dismayed that it comes with being automatically associated with the drug trade.
- The Candy Lady, the Albuquerque sweet-maker who produces the blue-dyed rock sugar that is used to represent Walt's product in the show is also making a mint selling bags of it, especially after Bryan Cranston gave some to David Letterman on his show.
- Generally speaking, any song that was featured on the show got a rise in popularity. The biggest one is "Baby Blue" by Badfinger, used in the final scene of the final episode. After the show, online streaming of the song increased by 9000%.
- The series might not show Albuquerque in the best light, but the place to pass through on the way to Santa Fe (and where Bugs Bunny keeps making a wrong turn) has reaped a substantial tourist benefit from the show's popularity. The Visitor's Bureau has a page
- Creator Backlash:
- Jonathan Banks personally believes that Mike leaving Kaylee behind to escape from the police and not reacting when Todd guns down Drew Sharpe were out of character for him, but he never protested on set out of respect for the writers. He also disagreed with the writers’ portrayal of Mike as having imperfect grammar.
- Raymond Cruz did not particularly enjoy portraying Tuco Salamanca in this show, as he was incredibly disturbed by the character's violent, uncontrollable personality. As such, he was killed off early in Season 2 so he could be free from the role, though he did reprise it in Better Call Saul and a Superbowl advertisement for PopCorners, albeit with more subdued performances.
- Peter Gould and several of the show's writers came to regret portraying Saul Goodman as a misogynistic Slimeball and sex pest in this show, and deliberately avoided invoking those personality traits with Jimmy McGill when writing Better Call Saul.
- Though things ultimately clicked into place at the end, Vince Gilligan deeply regrets using the Flash Forward Cold Open to kick off Season 5, as he didn't actually have a plan on what Walter was going to do with the machine gun he buys, and the stress of trying to figure it out was painful and scary for him.
- Screenwriter Patty Lin (who penned the Season 1 episode "Gray Matter" and was a producer on other S1 episodes) found her experience working on the show and with Vince Gilligan "humiliating", as he apparently gave her little direction on how to write the script and later revised what she had made without informing her or the producers what he was doing amongst other things. While Lin clarified that Gilligan's behavior was simply unprofessional and by no means abusive, her experience working on the show ultimately resulted in her leaving the screenwriting business.
- Creator-Chosen Casting: Vince Gilligan cast Bryan Cranston having worked with him on The X-Files episode "Drive".
- Creator's Favorite Episode:
- Vince Gilligan claimed that "Ozymandias" was the "best episode (they'd) ever done". Virtually all television critics and viewers agreed immediately upon its airing- it holds a perfect 10 score on IMDb, and many now call it one of the greatest hours in television history- some say it's the greatest.
- Meanwhile, Bryan Cranston's favorite episodes were "Phoenix" and "Felina", the series finale.
- Giancarlo Esposito cites "Box Cutter" as his favorite episode, as he enjoyed drawing from his theater background to invoke the "Pinter Pause" aspect of Gustavo Fring's character as he silently murders one of his subordinates and cleans up the murder scene.
- The Danza:
- Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez.
- James "Jimmy" Kilkelly is played by Jimmy Daniels.
- Emilio Koyama shares the same surname as his actor, John Koyama.
- Teacher Carmen Molina is played by Carmen Serano.
- Christopher King as Chris Mara.
- Darkhorse Casting: Many were surprised that such a successful show had stars who weren't very famous. Vince Gilligan said that this was by choice, and as the show went on he actually rejected big-name stars in favor of lesser-known actors.
- Dawson Casting:
- Inverted at first with RJ Mitte who was 15 years old playing 16 year old Walt Jr. in Season 1. Eventually played straight as the series progressed due to the show taking place over the course of two years and airing over the course of five years.
- Skinny Pete is in his late 20s in season 5b, while Charles Baker was in his early 40s. Played with since Skinny Pete is a meth addict and so despite Charles Baker being visually decades older it doesn't raise questions.
- Defictionalization:
- Vince Gilligan was asked, "Is there really such a thing as Blue crystal meth?" He responded, "There is now."
- SaveWalterWhite.com is an actual website. The donation button at the bottom of the page once linked to the National Cancer Coalition's website where visitors could donate to them, but the link was replaced with one to the official Breaking Bad website after the NCC was named one of the worst charities in America.
- One episode makes reference to Hank's homemade beer, 'Schraderbrau'. Dean Norris went on to actually sell it.
- While it doesn't involve meth (as far as we know), Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul did eventually go into business together selling Mezcal under the Dos Hombres brand. It's funny isn't it, how we draw that line?
- Diagnosis of God: Vince Gilligan has described Walter as a sociopath, but uses the term very loosely. He also described Todd as one.
- Directed by Cast Member: As if being the best actor on TV wasn't enough, Bryan Cranston also directed the Season 2, 3 and 5B premieres.
- Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: RJ Mitte (Walt Jr.) has mild cerebral palsy in real life. Walt Jr. was conceived from the start as having it, and Mitte had to learn to walk with crutches and speak less clearly to portray the level of affectation that the show's creator had in mind.
- Dueling Shows: Vince Gilligan has said that if he'd known about Weeds (dark comedy about a middle-class suburban parent who gets into drug dealing to solve a financial crisis, tries to keep it a secret from her family and quickly gets out of her depth), he'd probably have given up trying to make a series with such a similar premise.
- DVD Commentary: They jump back and forth between being incredibly amusing and informative as all the cast and crew riff on each other giving anecdotes, and awkward congrats sessions. In particular, creator Vince Gilligan is such a nice man that he pretty much makes sure to congratulate everyone for everything.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- Bryan Cranston lost some weight and shaved his head to play Walter.
- To portray Walt Jr., RJ Mitte quit taking physical therapy for his cerebral palsy so that it would regress enough for him to convincingly play the part of someone who needed crutches to walk and had slurred speech.
- Enforced Method Acting:
- In the scene where Walt finally shaves his head and goes to eat breakfast with Skyler and Walt Jr., Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte were seeing Bryan Cranston's shaved look for the first time, so their reactions are genuine.
- The scene with Don Margolis freaking out over Jane's dead body caused John de Lancie to actually freak out mentally and think that one of his kids had died.
- According to his memoir, while filming the scene where Jane dies, Bryan Cranston suddenly had a vivid image of his then-teenage daughter dying instead, leading to real tears in the take that was used. He was so distraught afterwards that Anna Gunn had to hug him for a while to calm him down. Cranston has said several times that it was the hardest scene he ever shot on the show.
- Bryan Cranston was led to believe that Gus poisoned Brock and not Walt in order to make his argument to Jesse that he didn't do it more believable.
- Executive Meddling: Multiple positive examples.
- Walt was initially supposed to murder Jane rather than letting her die; either by injecting a second dose of heroin or deliberately pushing her onto her back to make her choke to death. Executives (and most fans) believed that the change was for the better, as it was far too abrupt a change in character so early on.
- The show was initially set in Riverside, California but the studio wanted it to be filmed in Albuquerque for tax reasons, so the writers just changed the setting to Albuquerque rather than have to do Reverse California Doubling. This ended up working fabulously for the show's narrative.
- Fake American:
- Laura Fraser as the Texan Lydia Rodarte-Quayle. On the DVD Commentary, the other actors describe her as "very Scottish" and compliment her accent.
- Walt's former friend Elliot Schwartz is played by the English Adam Godley with a flawless accent.
- Gus' ex-associate Declan is played by Portuguese-Canadian Louis Ferreira.
- Fake Nationality:
- African-American and Italian (Neapolitan) Giancarlo Esposito note as Chilean-immigrant-to-the-US Gus Fring.
- Luis and Daniel Moncada (Honduran immigrants to the US) play the Salamanca cousins.
- Benicio Fuentes is played by the English Carlo Rota.
- Hector is Mexican, but Mark Margolis is an American Jew of European descent. In the flashback scenes where Margolis is speaking Spanish, it's pretty obvious he's not a native speaker.
- Neither is Giancarlo Esposito. Gus' partner Max was played by American actor James Martínez, who, by contrast, has excellent Spanish and does quite a convincing Chilean accent (at least to non-Chileans).
- While Eladio Vuente's nationality is never stated in either Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, he's one of the founding members of the Juárez Cartel so it is safe to asume he's either Mexican or Mexican-American. Steven Bauer is Cuban-American.
- Maurice Compte is Cuban-American, whereas Gaff is Romanian-American.
- Fatal Method Acting: Almost could have happened to Aaron Paul. During "A Handful of Nothing", he requested to say his lines at a different spot and the cast allowed it. As he stood in his new spot, the tarp of the RV was blown off by a gust of wind, causing the boulder holding it down to fall off and land on where Aaron previously stood just a few seconds ago.
- Friendship on the Set: Ever since the series ended, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have basically been inseparable, more often than not being found together hanging out in public.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: Done in Season 2 to conceal Betsy Brandt's pregnancy. Interestingly, Brandt's pregnancy was actually seen on the show, as when close-up shots of Skyler's pregnant belly were called for, Brandt stood in for her onscreen sister.
- I Am Not Spock: Every single member of the main cast can easily claim their roles on the show as their best-known (except for maybe Jesse Plemons who might still be better known from Friday Night Lights, Fargo, or Black Mirror: USS Callister).
- Inspiration for the Work: The concept emerged as Vince Gilligan talked with his fellow writer Thomas Schnauz regarding their current unemployment and joked that the solution was for them to put a "meth lab in the back of an RV and [drive] around the country cooking meth and making money".
- Life Imitates Art:
- Meth being smuggled by way of hiding it in food shipments. It's not exactly fry batter, but nacho cheese is close.
- On Aug. 16, 2012, the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Sheriff's Office announced its new Most Wanted Fugitive as Walter Eddie White, an accused meth cook. Such a guy would normally go unnoticed in the media had it not been for his name.
- Another real meth cook named Walter Jack White, arrested in Montana for possession and firearms charges. In contrast to the fictional Walter White's son being an uninvolved innocent, this Walter White's son was very much involved in the business, even shooting his dad in a dispute over a debt.
- Student planning to poison someone with ricin. While the plot is nothing new, the prosecteur accuses him of getting inspiration from this very show.
- Real-life meth cooks have begun using blue dye to make their drugs resemble the show's.
- Many have drawn parallels between the story of Walter White and Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the deep web marketplace Silk Road. Both are seemingly upstanding citizens who turn out to be the kingpin of a massive drug empire. Both lack any enforcers of their own, but rely on freelance hitmen to deal with their enemies (thankfully, Ross never actually killed anyone because his hitmen were scammers). Ross even underwent a very similar arc to Walt where he went from being squeamish at his first "victim" to dishing out hits like it was candy. In a chilling display of irony, Ross was a fan of this very show and was arrested exactly one day after the finale.
- Meth being smuggled by way of hiding it in food shipments. It's not exactly fry batter, but nacho cheese
- Meme Acknowledgement: The shows's official Twitter account acknowledged a popular musical remix using various clips from the show by placeboing.
- Meme Role Reprise: Dean Norris recorded a skit as Hank playing Among Us with his friends. In the skit, Hank becomes suspicious of Walter White, and calls him a "sussy baka".
- Method Acting:
- Giancarlo Esposito practiced yoga techniques to achieve Gus' trademark calm demeanor and behavior.
- Bryan Cranston was taught to make meth by the show's DEA advisors.
- In the DVD extras, all the actors talk about their characters in the third person except for Bryan Cranston, who refers to Walt's thoughts and actions as "I'm thinking that..." and "I'm going to...".
- Apparently, Bryan Cranston was so into character that he would insult and curse at Christopher Cousins, who played Ted Beneke, when they were off screen.
- Never Work with Children or Animals: A positive example. While filming one scene, the baby who was playing Walt's daughter Holly started crying for her mother (who was standing just off-camera). In context — Walt had gone on the run after a vicious fight with Skyler and had kidnapped the baby as he left, and the script called for him to spend a few moments with her before deciding to give her back — it worked brilliantly, and a bit of reactive improvisation from Bryan Cranston allowed them to Throw It In!.
- One-Take Wonder: The famous "pizza tossing" scene, where Walt angrily throws a pizza on the roof of his house, was shot in one take. The crew tried to reshoot it, but Bryan Cranston never managed to have the pizza land on the roof again after the first take.
- The Other Darrin:
- Louis was originally played by Kyle Swimmer, but was replaced in his later appearances by Caleb Landry Jones.
- Holly White was played by three different actresses over the course of the series.
- Playing Against Type:
- Jere Burns is known for characters who attract adjectives like "sleazy", "manipulative", and "psychotic". Despite Breaking Bad being likely the darkest show he's ever done with a host of terrifying villains, he actually plays a good (if troubled) character in it: the gentle, non-judgmental Group Leader.
- Before his appearance as Saul Goodman, Bob Odenkirk was primarily known for his work as an actor and writer in sketch comedy on shows like Mr. Show and Saturday Night Live (he wrote the famous Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker sketch).
- Krysten Ritter was best-known for playing sassy comic-relief characters prior to her dramatic turn as Jane in this series.
- Playing with Character Type:
- As noted above, Bryan Cranston was best known for his role as the archetypal Bumbling Dad Hal in Malcolm in the Middle before being cast as Walter White. The fact that Walt's personality and situation seem outwardly similar to Hal's at the beginning of the series makes his gradual slide into villainy all the more shocking.
- Danny Trejo's character Tortuga is one of Juan Bolsa's runners for the Juarez Cartel, meaning he's presumably a ruthlessly violent man who's not to be trifled with... and also a vain, hedonistic blowhard who's dangerously overconfident in his own abilities. None of his scenes feature him doing anything close to truly menacing; he orders around DEA operatives to help buy him products off SkyMall, tries to intimidate Hank by leaning on his reputation, insults the bartender and his fellow drinkers at a cantina, and finally suffers a humiliating and gruesome fate, only realizing the obvious — that Bolsa knows he's a rat — far too late.
- One could be forgiven at first for thinking that Todd Alquist was just Jesse Plemons playing a criminal version of Landry. He's extremely friendly and even a little dorky. Then comes the train heist where he unexpectedly and unhesitatingly executes Drew Sharp, and he only proceeds to get creepier from there.
- Pop-Culture Urban Legends: There was a widespread story that Samuel L. Jackson had requested to film a cameo on the show as Nick Fury, due to both this show and The Avengers (2012) both being filmed in New Mexico around the same time. While Jackson did indeed express interest in cameoing on the show, he had merely wanted to appear As Himself buying chicken at Los Pollos Hermanos.
- Production Posse: Mark Margolis and Steven Bauer both previously appeared in Scarface, though their characters never interact in the movie.
- Promoted Fanboy:
- Bill Burr was a fan of Breaking Bad since the pilot and asked his agent to get him on the show. After watching for three seasons, Burr finally appeared as Patrick Kuby in season four.
- The actor who plays Drew, the young boy who gets shot by Todd in Season 5, was also a big fan of the show before appearing on it.
- Real-Life Relative:
- Leonel and Marco Salamanca are played by real-life brothers Daniel and Luis Moncada.
- Jessica Hecht, who plays Gretchen Schwartz, is married in real life to recurring Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul director Adam Bernstein.
- "No Mas" has bit part characters played by Bryan Cranston's real life wife and daughter.
- The Red Stapler:
- Similar to how Back to the Future turned the obscure and worthless DeLorean into one of the most iconic cars of its era, Breaking Bad has created a new wave of interest and enthusiasm for the Pontiac Aztek due to its association with the Walter White character; it has gone from being probably the biggest Butt-Monkey in the automotive world for its ugly design, to somewhat of a Cool Car, due to it being "Heisenberg's Ride". An Aztek used in filming of the series, which was wrecked and completely undrivable, sold for $7,500 on eBay after the series ended. Prior to Breaking Bad, it would have been a miracle to get that much money for a serviceable Aztek.
- And of course we have what is most likely the most disturbing example of this trope:Stephen Colbert: Is there actually blue crystal meth? Did you make that up or is there actually blue crystal meth out there?
Vince Gilligan: There is now.- By the way, no. Pure crystal meth is not blue. Meth manufacturers began adding blue dye to their products to emulate the meth in the show.
- Since the show, there has also been an influx of ricin-related criminal cases.
- On a more positive note, the show has increased interest in the study of chemistry.
- Pimento cheese sandwiches being Mike's Trademark Favorite Food has led to a revival of interest in the spread.
- Referenced by...: Has its own page.
- Serendipity Writes the Plot: Mike Ehrmantraut's first appearance in the season 2 finale was originally supposed to be Saul Goodman coming to handle things in person. Bob Odenkirk was unavailable to film that, so a new character was created for the purpose. They also realized that Saul wouldn’t be able to handle getting his hands that dirty, and later on that Jimmy would never be able to do that because even as Saul, he and Mike are very different people.
- Shrug of God: Even the creators have admitted that they can't decide whether or not Ted was blackmailing Skyler in season 4 in an attempt to get even more money from her. He certainly words it like he is (and knows that if he goes down to the IRS, Skyler's going down with him) but given that he's also a massive idiot, it's just as likely that he genuinely didn't realize how he sounded.
- Sleeper Hit: For the first five years of its run, Breaking Bad's ratings were mediocre at best, despite critical adoration from the beginning. Excellent word of mouth, in addition to social media and streaming through services such as Netflix, turned it into a massive hit just in time for its final eight episodes, ending with one of the most watched series finales in the history of cable television.
- Spared by the Cut: Jesse was originally supposed to die at the end of the first season in a botched drug deal as a plot device to plague Walter with guilt. However, Vince Gilligan said by the second episode of the season, he was so impressed with Paul's performance that "it became pretty clear early on that would be a huge, colossal mistake, to kill off Jesse".
- Star-Making Role:
- While Bryan Cranston was already fairly recognizable for his appearances in Seinfeld and Malcolm in the Middle, his four-time Emmy winning role as Walter White made him a household name and earned him a slew of juicy roles that led to further nominations for major awards, including several Oscar nods.
- Aaron Paul went from acting in bit parts to being a three-time Emmy Award winner and one of the biggest stars on television with his portrayal of Jesse Pinkman.
- Giancarlo Esposito was at the time a character actor who was fairly well-known for his major performance in Do the Right Thing as well as his recurring role on Homicide: Life on the Street. His role as Gus, however, brought him mainstream recognition.
- Ditto for Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte, Dean Norris, and Betsy Brandt.
- Krysten Ritter was a recognizable face but not a recognizable name. The exposure she gained as Jane, Jesse's girlfriend, early on, led to higher-profile roles like the lead in Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and Jessica Jones (2015).
- Stunt Double: Only twice over the show's run were stunt doubles necessary.
- In "Fly", Walt's fall from the ledge onto the vat and floor was done by a stunt double. To make it seem as though Bryan Cranston took the fall himself, the crew used the shot of the double falling to show Cranston where to lie on the floor, with the shots merged so it's impossible to notice any difference.
- In "Crawl Space", that is not Christopher Cousins that slams into the cupboard. Ted's trip and fall were done by him, but the slide and slam were done by a double instead. Cousins has said that he was willing to do the whole stunt himself, but concerns from a recent spinal surgery made the crew decide to be better safe than sorry and have a double do it instead.
- Throw It In!: In a late scene of "Ozymandias", Walt leaves his family and takes Holly with him. However, when Holly repeatedly says "mama", he realizes his family has no attachment to him anymore and returns Holly. This wasn't scripted; Walt was supposed to just stare at Holly before deciding that he had to return her. Luckily the mother of Holly's actress was standing nearby, prompting the girl to cry for "Mama" repeatedly. Bryan Cranston worked with it, creating a far more powerful scene.
- Tom Hanks Syndrome: While Bryan Cranston was not an exclusively comedic actor before the series, by far his most famous role was as the Bumbling Dad on Malcolm in the Middle. To put it mildly, Walter will be quite a departure for his fans from that show. Now that Breaking Bad is his best known role by an even bigger gap than before, his work has been largely dramatic. Apparently Cranston had specifically taken the role because it was so different from both Hal and every other bumbling dad role he'd been offered around the time. Read that how you will.
- Tourist Bump: Albuquerque, NM received a tourism spike from the show, especially following the acclaimed final two seasons. Pretty interesting, considering the show rather realistically portrays the city's meth-fueled underbelly.
- Typecasting: Dean Norris is no stranger to law enforcement. He played an LAPD Detective in Lethal Weapon 2 and a SWAT member in The Negotiator. He played a D.C. police officer and before that, a SWAT captain. He was a U.S. Marshal in season 2, episode 22 of The X-Files (Vince Gilligan's first credit on that show was the very next episode).
- Vindicated by Reruns: The show is being held as a huge example of the impact internet streaming can have on a show. While it became a massive critical success very quickly, it always struggled in the ratings until its last eight episodes. The show took five years to go from under a million to 2 million viewers, only to jump to 10 million and become an internet phenomenon by its final episode a year later, thanks to excellent word of mouth and Netflix, seeing the show go out in a blaze of glory, both critically and commercially.
- What Could Have Been: Has its own page.
- Word of Gay: Vince Gilligan had this to say about Gus and Max's relationship:Vince Gilligan: Gus is a man who had one Achilles Heel, as far as we know: His burning desire for vengeance against the people who killed Max, who was very important to him. We don’t tend to nail things down on Breaking Bad. It’s fun to be a little mysterious, and it’s nice to have the audience come up with backstories on their own. Having said that, I personally think Max was more than just a friend to Gus. I think they probably were lovers. And therefore it was understandably a very crushing, terrible loss for Gus, one that he would never forget. That one bit of emotion that he allowed himself ultimately proved to be his undoing.
- Word of God:
- Vince Gilligan provided an explanation (during ComicCon 2013) as to what took place when Walter had Brock poisoned off screen.Vince Gilligan: That’s an excellent question and my writers and I would always tell the stories to ourselves of the evil juice box man… who somehow… Our best guess is… I can tell you that the way we worked it out in our timeline he had just enough time to do it but it would have been very tricky indeed and it was improbable perhaps but not impossible. That he could have got in over once he got that idea you know spinning the pistol by the pool and waiting to die essentially, looking at that lily of the valley, contemplating the idea at that point… Uh I think at that point what he did is he kind of crushed some of the stuff up, put it in a juice box or something and then somehow snuck into, being a guy who’s a teacher, he knows his way around a school, probably got into Brock’s nursery school and swapped it out. This is kind of the inner story for how it happened for the writers and I, but it would have been tricky timing. He was a very motivated individual at that point; he had to save his family, that’s my best guess on how it actually happened.
- Gilligan has also revealed what happened to Jesse after he was saved from being a slave to the Nazis. He managed to get clean and start a wood shop. Since Vince Gilligan is a major believer of karma, he seems to think that Jesse needed this after all he went through over the course of two years.
- Walt saving Jesse in "Felina". It's confirmed that Walt was planning to kill Jesse but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
- Vince Gilligan provided an explanation (during ComicCon 2013) as to what took place when Walter had Brock poisoned off screen.
- Writing by the Seat of Your Pants:
- Every season with the exception of the second, which Vince Gilligan has said was very stressful. Notably, the Cold Open of "Live Free Or Die" was written without them knowing what the M60 would be used for.
- "Face Off" feels a lot like a Series Fauxnale with the deaths of Gus and Hector, and the ambiguity of whether Walt will stay in the meth trade because the writers were unsure of whether or not they were going to be renewed for another season.
- The lead-up to the grand finale was only possible because the writer received a letter from a dying fan asking if Gretchen and Elliot would be coming back. Prior to this the writers had no idea how to get Walt from being in hiding to the final showdown, and had completely forgotten about the Grey Matter arc. If not for that letter things would have played out very differently.
- Especially noticeable in the finale is Walt taking off the watch Jesse gave him and leaving it behind for literally no reason except that he hadn't been wearing it in the season premiere's flashforwards.
- With the above example of Word of God, one theory to explain the watch discrepancy suggests that Walt took it off due to his original plan to kill Jesse in the finale.
