Delve into the challenges this show encountered, leading to significant plot overhauls, and be amazed at how it ultimately came together so seamlessly.
- While Bryan Cranston had been Vince Gilligan's first choice for the role of Walter White, AMC executives were wary due to Cranston being well-known for his role as Hal on Malcolm in the Middle, and instead approached other actors such as Matthew Broderick before Gilligan convinced AMC to cast Cranston. Contrary to popular belief, John Cusack was never considered for the part of Walter White.
- Penn Badgley, Colin Hanks and Reid Scott screen-tested for the role of Jesse Pinkman before the casting of Aaron Paul.
- Robin Lord Taylor auditioned for the part of Todd Alquist before Jesse Plemons was cast.
- According to Samuel L. Jackson, he asked to do a cameo on the show As Himself buying chicken at Los Pollos Hermanos, but he never got the opportunity to do so before the series ended. Michael Cera and Philip Seymour Hoffman also expressed interest in making guest appearances on the show.
- Raymond Cruz, the actor who played Tuco, asked to be written out of the show because he didn't feel comfortable playing such a violent character. Gilligan originally envisioned the show as being only four seasons long. It's possible that Cruz deciding to leave earlier than expected made the writers have to build up to a new villain thus making the story longer than originally planned.
- Gilligan has described his early pitch meeting with producers at other channels. HBO wasn't interested, and apparently rather curt about it. TNT loved it, but couldn't take it due to their family-friendly image. FX did initially buy it, but let it go after hemming and hawing for awhile. AMC took it because they were desperate for mature drama shows to compliment Mad Men.
- Hector Salamanca was originally planned as the villain for Season 3, and Gus Fring would never have existed if Tuco's actor hadn't resigned.
- Walt was originally supposed to purposefully turn Jane on her back to ensure her death, as opposed to just letting her die but the studio and Cranston both disagreed with it.
- The series was originally planned to be set in Ontario, California, but Albuquerque's incentives for filmmakers were such a big draw that the show relocated there. (In an interview, Vince Gilligan said the restrictions on camera shots necessary to pretend that New Mexico was California meant they simply moved the story to Albuquerque.)
- Jesse was originally supposed to die in Season 1, and even after the writers' strike cut the season short, Jesse was originally going to be killed by Tuco in "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal", the Season 1 finale. No-Doze was killed off instead because Vince Gilligan realized how much potential Aaron Paul had for the role.
- Jesse's character was originally named Marion Dupree, and Hank's last name was initially Weld.
- Kris Kristofferson was considered to play Skyler and Marie's father in one scene. It was discarded because the writers felt it strayed too far from the main story.
- The legendary I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS! Badass Boast originally ended with a far meeker qualifier: "so to speak." The writers removed that to complete Walt's transformation into Heisenberg.
- This list
reveals some unexplored ideas, involving Marie wielding a purple gun, Badger blowing up Jesse's car with a flaming bolt, and Jesse visiting a hospitalized Don Margolis.- One of the ideas in the article - Walt switching to using a pharmacy as a front for his operation may have been alluded to in this Super Bowl ad.
- One of the ideas in the article - Walt switching to using a pharmacy as a front for his operation may have been alluded to in this Super Bowl ad
- The subtle suggestion that Gus has his own children is a rather moot point and an indication Gus is playing up a family-man persona to gain empathy from Walt. Originally, the writers did want to leave possibilities open to see Gus' family.
- Saul Goodman was originally going to be the one to clean up the scene of Jane's death. When Bob Odenkirk was unavailable, the character of Mike Ehrmantraut was created. Furthermore, the writers quickly realized that it didn't fit Saul's character for him to be the one cleaning up the scene.
- The original first-season finale would have had Walt kidnap a man (possibly Jesse's killer) and slowly torture him over the course of several weeks, cutting off joints (a finger joint, a toe joint) and cauterizing them with a blowtorch, all the while having him tied to a shotgun that he could trigger at will to end the pain. The episode would have ended with Walt Jr. coming downstairs, at which point the tortured man would grab him and trigger the shotgun, killing them both. This was scrapped because turning Walt into a sadistic torturer would have sent him Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and destroyed the entire theme of the show.
- Jesse was originally named Marion Dupree in the original pilot script and described as a "hip Shaggy from Scooby-Doo". They try and mask some of his attractiveness with his shaggy and unkempt appearance and very loose fitting clothes but he still appears incredibly good looking, especially for a drug addict. Vince Gilligan was even hesitant at first to hire him because he found Aaron too attractive.
- Walt was originally supposed to be 40 years old. At the insistence of AMC, who thought that was too young for Walt to have a mid-life crisis, he was aged up to 50 years old.
- An interview with Dean Norris in 2013 suggests that Hank was more racist towards Gomez in the original pilot script, as in, there were even Middle-Eastern references.
- That scene in the pilot where Walt eats lunch alone in a teacher's lounge. If it seems a bit out of place, it’s because it had to be condensed from the first version of the script. Originally, this scene was meant to introduce us to Margaret, another science teacher who has a semi-flirtatious relationship with Walt, but the character was written entirely out of the script by the time the final version was published. In the final version, it creates an image in our minds of Walt being lonely and isolated, deserving of sympathy. It’s important for this seed to be planted early, given the big event that Walt goes home to later in the episode.
- Originally both cousins were going to be killed in the fight with Hank, but then Gilligan realized it would be terrible storytelling for them to die without ever laying eyes on Walt, so one of them survived to do it.
- Gilligan revealed in an interview for the show's tenth anniversary in 2018 that we can also thank the writers' strike for Hank surviving the first season.
- A minor change, but the scene of Walt's Heel Realization in "Ozymandias" was originally quite a bit different. The script had him recognize that everything about kidnapping Holly was wrong, and that leaving her with Skyler and Walt Jr. is for the best. However, Holly's actress started calling for her mother, who was standing just off the set. In a quick moment of improvisation, Bryan Cranston went with her crying "Mama" as Holly calling for Skyler, with Walt realizing that not even his own daughter feels safe around him.
- According to Bryan Cranston, an eighth season of Malcolm In The Middle was nearly greenlitnote . Had that season been greenlit, Cranston would not have been able to shoot the pilot for Breaking Bad due to his commitments to Malcolm.
- Instead of managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, the first draft had Saul's "best case scenario" be managing a Hot Topic. It was changed because the writers discovered that Hot Topic already sold Breaking Bad merchandise and didn't want it to look like self-promotion.
- In what turned out to be very lucky for Better Call Saul, there was a scene where "loud work front" Saul tells Walt about his personal life, but it got cut.
- There were plans for Saul Goodman to die during the series finale, but Vince Gilligan eventually scrapped them as he felt that none of them were satisfying enough, as well as liking the idea of Saul's future being left open to interpretation. Ultimately, the character's fate would be revealed near the very end of his own series.
- In a case of What Might Not Have Been, Vince Gilligan was unaware of the existence of Weeds - a series with the very similar premise of a suburban housewife in financial straits who turns to growing and selling marijuana - until he was writing Breaking Bad. He took pains to ensure it didn't seem to be copying the show, and said that he'd been aware from the start, he probably would never have created Breaking Bad. Fortunately, even at worst, those who have seen both shows would call Breaking Bad a Not-So-Cheap Imitation.
