Walter White (Breaking Bad)
Encyclopedia
Walter Hartwell "Walt" White is a fictional character
and the antihero of the American television drama series Breaking Bad
on AMC. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston
and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan
. Once a promising chemist
who was one of the founding members of the fictional "Grey Matter Technologies", Walter left the company for personal reasons and became an unhappy and disillusioned high school chemistry teacher. Once he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer
, he resorts to manufacturing methamphetamine
to ensure his family's security when he dies. As the series progresses, Walter gradually grows violent and dangerous.
Although AMC officials hesitated to cast Cranston due to his previous role on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle
, Gilligan cast him based on the actor's past performance in an episode of The X-Files
. Cranston has contributed to much of his character including Walter's back story, physical appearance and personality traits. Gilligan had described his goal with Walter White as turning Mr. Chips
into Scarface
, and has deliberately made the character less and less sympathetic.
Both the Walter White character and Bryan Cranston's performance have received positive reviews. Cranston has won three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the second actor ever to do so and the first since Bill Cosby
for I Spy in the 1960s.
who, as a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology
, contributed to research that helped a team win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
. After college, Walter founded the firm Gray Matter Technologies with Elliott Schwartz, his close friend and former science partner from college. Around this time, Walter dated his lab assistant, Gretchen (Jessica Hecht
) until Walter abruptly left her in the middle of a vacation with her family. Walter left Gray Matter Technologies and retained financial interest in the company. Gretchen and Elliott later married and garnered a fortune with the company, over which Walter secretly harbors animosity.
Despite Walter's early promise as a chemist, by the beginning of Breaking Bad he is working as a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico
, where he provides instruction to disinterested and disrespectful students. The job pays so poorly he is forced to take a second job at a car wash, which proves particularly humiliating, especially when he must clean the cars of his own students. Walter is married to Skyler White (Anna Gunn
) and they have a teenage son named Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte
), who has cerebral palsy
. At the start of Breaking Bad, Skyler is pregnant with their second child. Walter's other family includes Skyler's sister Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt
) and her husband Hank (Dean Norris
), who is an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration
.
We also know that Walt has a mother still alive, whom he has not told about his cancer until Skyler has to inform her. It's alluded that much of his pride comes from her. In season 4 we find out that Walter's father had Huntington's disease and died around when he was 4 or 5. His last moments with his father affected the way Walt wants to be perceived.
and told that he likely has only a few more months to live. Walter does not initially share this information with his family, but quits his job at the car wash and shows signs of making other major changes in his life. After watching a local news report about a methamphetamine
drug bust, Walter is impressed by the amount of money recovered from the dealers and begins to consider secretly cooking meth as a way to ensure his family has money and security after he dies.
Walter accompanies Hank as a ride-along during a drug bust against a local dealer named "Cap'n Cook". During the bust, Walter sees a former student, Jesse Pinkman
(Aaron Paul
), flee from the scene, realizing that he is the dealer Hank is investigating. Using the school's records, Walter tracks down Jesse and blackmails him into letting him enter the drug trade. The two form a partnership in which Walter will manufacture meth and Jesse will sell it, producing the product in an RV
that Jesse purchases with Walter's life savings. Because of Walter's expertise in chemistry, he produces exceptionally pure supplies of meth which take the form of blue crystalline tablets.
Walter is nearly killed when Jesse brings meth distributors Krazy-8 Molina (Max Arciniega) and Emilio Koyama (John Koyama) to the RV, and Emilio recognizes Walter from the earlier DEA bust he participated in. He survives only by agreeing to show Krazy-8 and Emilio how he cooks meth, then mixing chemicals to produce a deadly gas, killing Emilio in self-defense. When he hears sirens, Walter falsely believes his arrest to be imminent and attempts to commit suicide, but survives after he forgets to put the safety on his handgun. Krazy-8 survives the encounter and they hold him hostage in Jesse's house. Walter wishes not to kill Krazy-8 and, after getting to know the man, initially plans to release him. However, upon realizing Krazy-8 plans to kill him once he is released, Walter strangles him to death with a bicycle lock. Meanwhile, Walter keeps his activities secret from his family, but when Skyler learns about Jesse and confronts Walter about him, Walter claims Jesse is his marijuana
dealer. Walter eventually tells his family about the cancer and, although he initially insists he does not want treatment due to the medical costs and concerns over loss of dignity, he ultimately agrees to seek treatment.
Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz offer to pay for all of Walter's treatment, but he refuses to accept, apparently due to pride and animosity over their past. Instead, he resumes cooking meth with Jesse, despite his initial plans to abandon the partnership following the incidents with Krazy-8 and Emilio. Walter insists he wants no part in the drug dealing end of the business and that he wants no more bloodshed, but also expresses impatience at the rate at which Jesse is selling and demands that he find a distributor so they can sell more. This leads to Jesse making contact with Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz
), a sociopathic drug kingpin who beats Jesse so badly that he becomes hospitalized. Walter confronts Tuco – using the alias "Heisenberg", after Werner Heisenberg
, the author of the Uncertainty principle
– and demands $50,000 for the drugs and Jesse's pain and suffering; After Walter uses an explosive crystal of fulminated mercury to nearly blow up Tuco's building, Tuco agrees to Walter's proposal and they form a lucrative, albeit unstable partnership. Walter starts producing meth more quickly and, to circumvent sales restrictions on the organic pseudoephedrine
compound, opts to use phenylacetone
reacted with methylamine
, which produces racemic meth, which is then purified to the same pure dextrorotatory form as before, except in a blue color that becomes a signature for Walter's product. The first season
ends with Walter and Jesse delivering a fresh batch of meth to Tuco, who viciously beats one of his henchmen, No Doze (Cesar Garcia), for making a single comment as a shocked Walter and Jesse watch on.
When Walter's medical bills start mounting, he promises Skyler he will seek assistance from Elliott and Gretchen after all, but continues to pay with his drug money. When Skyler calls Gretchen to thank her for their help, Gretchen confronts Walter and asks how he is paying the bills. Walter becomes angry, insisting it is none of her business and condemning her and Elliott for making millions of dollars on his research. Meanwhile, one of their dealers, Badger Mayhew (Matt L. Jones
), is arrested and, fearful it could lead the police back to them, Walter and Jesse seek advice from the sleazy and unscrupulous criminal attorney Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk
). Saul arranges for a career criminal who willingly goes to prison for crimes he does not commit to pose as Heisenberg and be arrested. Although Hank remains suspicious that the real Heisenberg is still loose, the arrest takes some heat off of Walter, and Saul uses the experience to become Walter's consigliere
-like adviser.
Walter soon learns his cancer is in remission and the tumor has shrunk by 80 percent. In light of this news, Walter insists to Jesse that he will be getting out of the drug trade after unloading the last of the meth. However, there are signs he is embracing the criminal activity, such as when he threateningly warns a prospective competitor to "stay out of my territory". When another of Walter's dealers, Combo Ortega (Rodney Rush), is shot to death during a deal, Saul arranges for Walter to meet Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito
), a powerful drug kingpin who also runs a chain of fast food restaurants as a front. Walter seeks to sell his entire supply in bulk to Gustavo, but the extremely cautious and low-profile man expresses concerns about working with Walter, particularly due to the unpredictability of Jesse, whose addiction to meth has grown increasingly worse. Nevertheless, Gustavo agrees to buy his entire stock of meth from Walter for $1.2 million. The deal is nearly blown by Jesse's drug problems, but Walter makes the transaction, even though it makes him miss the birth of his daughter Holly.
Jesse demands his cut of the money, but Walter refuses to turn it over until Jesse gets clean. Later, however, Jesse's drug addict girlfriend Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter
) blackmail
s Walter, threatening to make his drug activities public unless he gives Jesse his money. Walter agrees to the demand and, later that same night, goes to a bar and meets Donald Margolis (John de Lancie
), who he does not realize is Jane's father. When Donald tells Walter one must never give up on family, Walter realizes he has paternal feelings toward Jesse and decides to help him. He breaks into Jesse's house, where Jesse and Jane lie passed out after a drug fix and Jane starts choking on her own vomit. Seeing Jane as his personal enemy, Walter chooses not to help her and allows her to die. Later, Jesse is distraught over Jane's death, unaware of Walter's role in it, and Walter checks him in to an expensive rehabilitation clinic. Meanwhile, Walter undergoes an aggressive, risky surgery to treat his lung cancer, which appears to be a success. However, incriminating statements Walter unwittingly made while under anesthesia
lead Skyler to discover the extent of many of Walter's lies, and she leaves him. The second season
ends with Donald, an air traffic controller, making a mistake at his job due to his despair over Jane's death. From his home, Walter watches two commercial airplanes crash into each other, unaware he is indirectly responsible for it.
Walter becomes an emotional mess and, at one point, tries to kiss his own boss, assistant principal Carmen Molina (Carmen Serano
), who places him on indefinite suspension as a result. Gus offers Walter a state-of-the-art meth lab concealed beneath an industrial laundry facility. Although Walter initially continues to resist, he eventually accepts Gus's offer, then reluctantly signs Skyler's divorce papers. By this point, Walter and Jesse have had a falling out, and Walter is working with a new lab assistant, Gale Boetticher (David Costabile
). When Hank asks Walter if he remembers whether his former student Jesse used a recreational vehicle, Walter realizes Hank is closing in on Jesse and tries to have the RV destroyed. Hank follows Jesse to the repair yard where the RV is kept, which results in Hank finding the RV and pounding on the door while Walter and Jesse are inside. They escape the situation only after Walter arranges for Hank to receive a phone call that his wife, Marie, has been hurt in an accident, prompting Hank to rush off to see her. Walter and Jesse subsequently have the RV destroyed.
Later, a furious Hank beats Jesse to the point that he is hospitalized. Walter convinces Jesse not to press charges and the two make amends after Walter makes Jesse his full partner, resulting in Jesse replacing Gale as his lab assistant. When Hank is shot by Leonel and Marco Salamanca, Skyler insists that she and Walter will pay for Hank's medical bills, and she claims to Marie that Walter made his money by gambling
. Skyler gradually starts to become more involved in the dark side of Walter's life and proposes they buy the car wash where he previously worked for a front business to launder his drug money. She also reveals she never filed the divorce papers Walter had signed. Eventually, Jesse learns the drug dealers who killed his friend Combo work for Gus, and that the dealers forced Tomas (Angelo Martinez), the 11-year-old brother of Jesse's girlfriend Andrea (Emily Rios
), to commit the murder. Jesse starts making plans to kill them, and Walter seeks to stop this by informing Gus of Jesse's plans. This leads to a meeting between Walter, Gus, Jesse and the drug dealers, during which Gus warns Jesse not to harm the dealers and tells them to stop using children during their deals.
Shortly afterward, however, Tomas is murdered by unknown gunmen, prompting an angry Jesse to seek revenge. Upon local news broadcasts about Tomas' death, Walter realizes how Jesse will respond and seeks to find him. Just before Jesse is about to shoot the dealers, Walter arrives and runs both down with his car. One is killed instantly, then Walter shoots the other to death. Walter places Jesse into hiding, then later tells Gus that he has fled the state. Although Walter insists he wishes to continue cooking meth for Gus, he quickly realizes Gus is grooming his former lab assistant, Gale, to eventually replace Walter. He correctly predicts Gus will try to kill Walter once Gale is ready, so Walter tells Jesse they must kill Gale to prevent this. Jesse does not want to do it and suggests Walter turn himself in to the DEA, but Walter refuses and says he will kill Gale himself. However, before he can do so, Walter is abducted by Gus's henchmen, Mike (Jonathan Banks
) and Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui), who plan to kill him. Walter claims he will arrange to turn Jesse over to them, but when they allow him to call Jesse, Walter quickly informs Jesse he must now kill Gale himself, or else Mike and Victor will kill him. The third season
ends with Jesse shooting Gale.
for the task. However, Walter is told by Mike and a new lieutenant, Tyrus Kitt, that Gus has eschewed all contact with him. Walter attempts to kill Gus at his home, only to be confronted by Tyrus. He also approaches Mike at a bar and asks for his help in killing Gus; however, Mike beats Walter and leaves.
With some help from Saul, the Whites force Bogdan into selling his car wash. However, Walter begins recklessly spending his money on other items, buying a Dodge Challenger
for Walt, Jr.; when Skyler refuses to let the boy accept the less-than-inconspicuous gift, an angered Walter destroys the car in an empty parking lot. Walter's demeanor becomes increasingly sinister, frightening Skyler to the point where she contemplates leaving New Mexico. She stays, however, but tells Walter that she intends to "protect this family from the man who protects this family."
The relationship between Walter and Gus continues to deteriorate; Walter discovers that Gus has installed a surveillance camera
in the superlab to track his movements, while the depressed Jesse's increasingly erratic behavior makes him a possible target. His troubles increase when Hank begins an unofficial invesigation into Gus, having found evidence linking him to Gale's murder. The oblivious Hank asks Walter to place a tracking device on Gus's car in a Los Pollos Hermanos parking lot; a harried Walter informs Gus of the tracking device, which he later removes. Hank also has Walter drive him to Gus's laundry, which he avoids by deliberately causing a car accident. When Gus learns of this incident, his distrust of Walter deepens.
In another plot to kill Gus, Walter manufactures a small amount of ricin and gives it to Jesse, telling him to covertly poison Gus as soon as possible. However, Jesse fails to follow through out of fear for his own life. Upon learning this, Walter confronts Jesse and the two engage in a brawl, signifying an end to their partnership. Jesse subsequently joins Gus's organization as an apprentice to Mike.
Gus later takes Walter out to the desert and tells him he is "fired" and that if he tries to contact Jesse or interfere with him murdering Hank, Gus will kill his entire family; he couldn't kill Walter outright due to Jesse's adamant opposition, despite their falling out. Walter later regains Jesse's trust by pleading ignorance to Brock's poisoning and suggesting Gus was responsible, as he approved of violent measures against children in the past. Jesse and Walter attempt to kill Gus by rigging his station wagon with a remote-controlled pipe bomb, but Gus senses something is awry and Walt's plan is thwarted. Jesse later tells Walt of Gus's visits to Hector Salamanca at the rest-home; Walt, in collusion with Hector (who weighs the many family members of his Gus has killed versus Walt's role in the death of only Tuco), rigs the pipe bomb to his wheelchair so that Hector may trigger it with his bell. When Gus visits him next, he is killed in the blast, along with Tyrus and Hector.
With Gus dead, Walter storms the superlab and kills two of Gus's henchmen to free Jesse, who had been kidnapped and forced to cook at gunpoint. The two proceed to set fire to the superlab, destroying the entire laundry facility. Afterward, Jesse tells Walter that Brock will live, as he was poisoned not by ricin, but by berries from a Lily of the Valley
plant; because of this, Jesse realizes that Gus couldn't have been responsible for Brock's condition. Walter assures Jesse, however, that Gus's murder was necessary. The duo shake hands and part ways. Walter then calls Skyler to assure her that Gus is dead and he has "won". The final shot of this season fixes on a potted Lily of the Valley plant in Walter's backyard, suggesting that Walter was indeed responsible for poisoning Brock.
cast Bryan Cranston for the role of Walter White based on having worked with him in a sixth season
episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files
, where Gilligan worked as a writer. Cranston played an anti-Semitic redneck with a terminal illness who took series protagonist Fox Mulder
hostage. Gilligan said the character had to be simultaneously loathsome and sympathetic, and that "Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it." AMC officials were initially reluctant with the casting choice, having known Cranston only as the over-the-top character Hal on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle
, but they were persuaded after Gilligan screened the X-Files episode for them.
Cranston contributed a great deal to the character. When Gilligan left much of Walter's past unexplained during the development of the series, the actor wrote his own back story for the character. At the start of the show, Cranston gained 10 pounds to reflect the character's personal decline. He had the natural red highlights in his hair dyed a regular brown. He collaborated with costume designer Kathleen Detoro on a wardrobe of mostly neutral green and brown colors to make the character bland and unremarkable, and worked with makeup artist Frieda Valenzuela to create a mustache he described as "impotent" and like a "dead caterpillar". Cranston has also repeatedly identified elements in scripts where he disagreed with how the character was handled, and has gone so far as to call Gilligan directly when he could not work out disagreements with the episode screenwriters. Cranston has said he was inspired partially by his elderly father for how Walter carries himself physically, which he described as "a little hunched over, never erect, [as if] the weight of the world is on this man's shoulders". In contrast to his character, Cranston has been described as extremely playful on set, with Aaron Paul describing him as "a kid trapped in a man's body".
Gilligan has said his goal with Walter White is to turn Mr. Chips
into Scarface
. Gilligan has said it is difficult to write for Walter White because the character is so dark and morally questionable: "I'm going to miss the show when it's over, but on some level, it'll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore." As the series has progressed, Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad have made Walter more and more unsympathetic. Gilligan said: "He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why." Cranston said by the fourth season
: "I think Walt's figured out it's better to be a pursuer than the pursued. He's well on his way to badass."
magazine writer Emma Rosenblum said Bryan Cranston "pulls off the unassuming White with flawless subtlety: a waxy pallor, a slump of the shoulders, and a sense of doom that is palpable". The Hollywood Reporter
writer Tim Goodman praised as courageous Vince Gilligan's decision to transform Walter White into an unsympathetic character: "You don't take your main character and make him unlikable. You just don't. Nobody does that. Nobody has ever really done that to this extent."
for the 1960s secret-agent adventure series I Spy.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and the antihero of the American television drama series Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...
on AMC. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Lee Cranston is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal the father in the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle, and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he won three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...
and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan is an American writer, director and producer. He is the creator of the highly acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. Gilligan has also worked on the hit series The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. He is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University...
. Once a promising chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
who was one of the founding members of the fictional "Grey Matter Technologies", Walter left the company for personal reasons and became an unhappy and disillusioned high school chemistry teacher. Once he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, he resorts to manufacturing methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
to ensure his family's security when he dies. As the series progresses, Walter gradually grows violent and dangerous.
Although AMC officials hesitated to cast Cranston due to his previous role on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, Gilligan cast him based on the actor's past performance in an episode of The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. Cranston has contributed to much of his character including Walter's back story, physical appearance and personality traits. Gilligan had described his goal with Walter White as turning Mr. Chips
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
into Scarface
Tony Montana
Antonio Raimundo "Tony" Montana is a fictional character from the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie...
, and has deliberately made the character less and less sympathetic.
Both the Walter White character and Bryan Cranston's performance have received positive reviews. Cranston has won three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the second actor ever to do so and the first since Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
for I Spy in the 1960s.
Background and personality
Walter White is a talented chemistChemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
who, as a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, contributed to research that helped a team win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
. After college, Walter founded the firm Gray Matter Technologies with Elliott Schwartz, his close friend and former science partner from college. Around this time, Walter dated his lab assistant, Gretchen (Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht is an American actress, known for numerous Broadway appearances and TV roles.-Background:Hecht was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of Lenore, a psychotherapist, and Richard Hecht, a physicist. Jessica moved with her parents and her sister to Bloomfield, CT, at the age of...
) until Walter abruptly left her in the middle of a vacation with her family. Walter left Gray Matter Technologies and retained financial interest in the company. Gretchen and Elliott later married and garnered a fortune with the company, over which Walter secretly harbors animosity.
Despite Walter's early promise as a chemist, by the beginning of Breaking Bad he is working as a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, where he provides instruction to disinterested and disrespectful students. The job pays so poorly he is forced to take a second job at a car wash, which proves particularly humiliating, especially when he must clean the cars of his own students. Walter is married to Skyler White (Anna Gunn
Anna Gunn
Anna Gunn is an American actress, best known for her roles as Assistant District Attorney Jean Ward on The Practice, Martha Bullock on Deadwood, and, currently, Skyler White on Breaking Bad. She appeared on Seinfeld in the episode "The Glasses" and on the first season of Murder One...
) and they have a teenage son named Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte
RJ Mitte
Roy Frank “RJ” Mitte III is an American actor best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC television series, Breaking Bad....
), who has cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
. At the start of Breaking Bad, Skyler is pregnant with their second child. Walter's other family includes Skyler's sister Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt
Betsy Brandt
Betsy Brandt is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Marie Schrader in Breaking Bad-Early life:Brandt is a native of Bay City, Michigan. Betsy graduated from Western High School in 1991....
) and her husband Hank (Dean Norris
Dean Norris
Dean Joseph Norris is an American actor currently starring as DEA agent Hank Schrader, the brother-in-law of main character Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad, which premiered on January 20, 2008.-Biography:...
), who is an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
.
We also know that Walt has a mother still alive, whom he has not told about his cancer until Skyler has to inform her. It's alluded that much of his pride comes from her. In season 4 we find out that Walter's father had Huntington's disease and died around when he was 4 or 5. His last moments with his father affected the way Walt wants to be perceived.
Season one
The pilot episode of Breaking Bad begins on Walter's 50th birthday, when he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
and told that he likely has only a few more months to live. Walter does not initially share this information with his family, but quits his job at the car wash and shows signs of making other major changes in his life. After watching a local news report about a methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
drug bust, Walter is impressed by the amount of money recovered from the dealers and begins to consider secretly cooking meth as a way to ensure his family has money and security after he dies.
Walter accompanies Hank as a ride-along during a drug bust against a local dealer named "Cap'n Cook". During the bust, Walter sees a former student, Jesse Pinkman
Jesse Pinkman
Jesse Bruce Pinkman is a fictional character of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Aaron Paul and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan.-Background:...
(Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul
Aaron Michael Paul is an American actor. After appearing in several roles in American television, including a recurring role on the HBO series Big Love, Paul came to prominence in the late 2000s for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he...
), flee from the scene, realizing that he is the dealer Hank is investigating. Using the school's records, Walter tracks down Jesse and blackmails him into letting him enter the drug trade. The two form a partnership in which Walter will manufacture meth and Jesse will sell it, producing the product in an RV
Recreational vehicle
Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.-Features:...
that Jesse purchases with Walter's life savings. Because of Walter's expertise in chemistry, he produces exceptionally pure supplies of meth which take the form of blue crystalline tablets.
Walter is nearly killed when Jesse brings meth distributors Krazy-8 Molina (Max Arciniega) and Emilio Koyama (John Koyama) to the RV, and Emilio recognizes Walter from the earlier DEA bust he participated in. He survives only by agreeing to show Krazy-8 and Emilio how he cooks meth, then mixing chemicals to produce a deadly gas, killing Emilio in self-defense. When he hears sirens, Walter falsely believes his arrest to be imminent and attempts to commit suicide, but survives after he forgets to put the safety on his handgun. Krazy-8 survives the encounter and they hold him hostage in Jesse's house. Walter wishes not to kill Krazy-8 and, after getting to know the man, initially plans to release him. However, upon realizing Krazy-8 plans to kill him once he is released, Walter strangles him to death with a bicycle lock. Meanwhile, Walter keeps his activities secret from his family, but when Skyler learns about Jesse and confronts Walter about him, Walter claims Jesse is his marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
dealer. Walter eventually tells his family about the cancer and, although he initially insists he does not want treatment due to the medical costs and concerns over loss of dignity, he ultimately agrees to seek treatment.
Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz offer to pay for all of Walter's treatment, but he refuses to accept, apparently due to pride and animosity over their past. Instead, he resumes cooking meth with Jesse, despite his initial plans to abandon the partnership following the incidents with Krazy-8 and Emilio. Walter insists he wants no part in the drug dealing end of the business and that he wants no more bloodshed, but also expresses impatience at the rate at which Jesse is selling and demands that he find a distributor so they can sell more. This leads to Jesse making contact with Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz
Raymond Cruz
Raymond Cruz is a Mexican American actor. He is mostly known for playing military roles. Since 2005 he has been a regular cast member on the TV series The Closer, playing the character Detective Julio Sanchez...
), a sociopathic drug kingpin who beats Jesse so badly that he becomes hospitalized. Walter confronts Tuco – using the alias "Heisenberg", after Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
, the author of the Uncertainty principle
Uncertainty principle
In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states a fundamental limit on the accuracy with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known...
– and demands $50,000 for the drugs and Jesse's pain and suffering; After Walter uses an explosive crystal of fulminated mercury to nearly blow up Tuco's building, Tuco agrees to Walter's proposal and they form a lucrative, albeit unstable partnership. Walter starts producing meth more quickly and, to circumvent sales restrictions on the organic pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes. It is used as a nasal/sinus decongestant and stimulant, or as a wakefulness-promoting agent....
compound, opts to use phenylacetone
Phenylacetone
Phenylacetone , is an organic compound. It is a clear oil with a refractive index of 1.5168. This substance is used in the manufacture of methamphetamine and amphetamine as a starting material or intermediate, where it is commonly known as P2P...
reacted with methylamine
Methylamine
Methylamine is the organic compound with a formula of CH3NH2. This colourless gas is a derivative of ammonia, but with one H atom replaced by a methyl group. It is the simplest primary amine. It is sold as a solution in methanol, ethanol, THF, and water, or as the anhydrous gas in pressurized...
, which produces racemic meth, which is then purified to the same pure dextrorotatory form as before, except in a blue color that becomes a signature for Walter's product. The first season
Breaking Bad (season 1)
The first season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on January 20, 2008 and concluded on March 9, 2008. It consisted of seven episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length, except the pilot episode which runs approximately 57 minutes. AMC broadcast the first...
ends with Walter and Jesse delivering a fresh batch of meth to Tuco, who viciously beats one of his henchmen, No Doze (Cesar Garcia), for making a single comment as a shocked Walter and Jesse watch on.
Season two
When No Doze dies as a result of Tuco's beating, Tuco becomes increasingly paranoid and kidnaps Walter and Jesse out of fear they will turn him in. They are kept hostage for several days in a trailer in the middle of the desert, but after a struggle, Jesse shoots Tuco and escapes with Walter. Shortly afterward, Tuco is shot to death in a gunfight with Hank, who tracked Jesse's car to Tuco while searching for Walter. To explain his absence, Walter wanders naked into a grocery store, feigning confusion, and later claims he has no recollection of the past several days. Although Hank knows nothing about Walter's role in the drug trade, he starts investigating the recent upsurge in blue meth and the mysterious manufacturer known as "Heisenberg", unaware it is his own brother-in-law. Walter's constant lies start straining his marriage, as Skyler seems to sense his dishonesty and grows weary of his coldness. Meanwhile, Walter grows more and more aggressive in his role as a drug manufacturer; when Jesse tells him they are short money because one of their dealers was robbed, Walter demands that he "handle it" by whatever means necessary.When Walter's medical bills start mounting, he promises Skyler he will seek assistance from Elliott and Gretchen after all, but continues to pay with his drug money. When Skyler calls Gretchen to thank her for their help, Gretchen confronts Walter and asks how he is paying the bills. Walter becomes angry, insisting it is none of her business and condemning her and Elliott for making millions of dollars on his research. Meanwhile, one of their dealers, Badger Mayhew (Matt L. Jones
Matt L. Jones
Matthew L. "Matt" Jones is an American actor and comedian best known for his recurring role as Badger on Breaking Bad and for voicing Gunther on the animated series Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.-Life and career:...
), is arrested and, fearful it could lead the police back to them, Walter and Jesse seek advice from the sleazy and unscrupulous criminal attorney Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
). Saul arranges for a career criminal who willingly goes to prison for crimes he does not commit to pose as Heisenberg and be arrested. Although Hank remains suspicious that the real Heisenberg is still loose, the arrest takes some heat off of Walter, and Saul uses the experience to become Walter's consigliere
Consigliere
Consigliere is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , and its film adaptation...
-like adviser.
Walter soon learns his cancer is in remission and the tumor has shrunk by 80 percent. In light of this news, Walter insists to Jesse that he will be getting out of the drug trade after unloading the last of the meth. However, there are signs he is embracing the criminal activity, such as when he threateningly warns a prospective competitor to "stay out of my territory". When another of Walter's dealers, Combo Ortega (Rodney Rush), is shot to death during a deal, Saul arranges for Walter to meet Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American film and television actor and director.-Early life:Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same...
), a powerful drug kingpin who also runs a chain of fast food restaurants as a front. Walter seeks to sell his entire supply in bulk to Gustavo, but the extremely cautious and low-profile man expresses concerns about working with Walter, particularly due to the unpredictability of Jesse, whose addiction to meth has grown increasingly worse. Nevertheless, Gustavo agrees to buy his entire stock of meth from Walter for $1.2 million. The deal is nearly blown by Jesse's drug problems, but Walter makes the transaction, even though it makes him miss the birth of his daughter Holly.
Jesse demands his cut of the money, but Walter refuses to turn it over until Jesse gets clean. Later, however, Jesse's drug addict girlfriend Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter
Krysten Ritter
Krysten Alyce Ritter is an American actress and former model. Ritter is well known for her critically acclaimed turn as Jane Margolis on AMC's Breaking Bad where she first appeared as the property manager and neighbor of Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman...
) blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
s Walter, threatening to make his drug activities public unless he gives Jesse his money. Walter agrees to the demand and, later that same night, goes to a bar and meets Donald Margolis (John de Lancie
John de Lancie
John de Lancie is an American actor. He has been active in screen and television roles since 1977, though he is best known for his recurring role as Q on the various Star Trek series and as Frank Simmons in Stargate SG-1....
), who he does not realize is Jane's father. When Donald tells Walter one must never give up on family, Walter realizes he has paternal feelings toward Jesse and decides to help him. He breaks into Jesse's house, where Jesse and Jane lie passed out after a drug fix and Jane starts choking on her own vomit. Seeing Jane as his personal enemy, Walter chooses not to help her and allows her to die. Later, Jesse is distraught over Jane's death, unaware of Walter's role in it, and Walter checks him in to an expensive rehabilitation clinic. Meanwhile, Walter undergoes an aggressive, risky surgery to treat his lung cancer, which appears to be a success. However, incriminating statements Walter unwittingly made while under anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
lead Skyler to discover the extent of many of Walter's lies, and she leaves him. The second season
Breaking Bad (season 2)
The second season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on March 8, 2009 and concluded on May 31, 2009. It consisted of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length. AMC broadcast the second season on Sundays at 10:00 pm in the United States...
ends with Donald, an air traffic controller, making a mistake at his job due to his despair over Jane's death. From his home, Walter watches two commercial airplanes crash into each other, unaware he is indirectly responsible for it.
Season three
At the start of the season, Walter is wracked with guilt after learning about the role Jane's death played in the plane crash. He has also moved out of the house. During a discussion about a possible divorce, Skyler accuses Walter of dealing marijuana with Jesse, believing it to be the only way he could have paid his medical bills. Walter admits to manufacturing methamphetamine, and a stunned Skyler says she will not tell anybody if he grants her a divorce, but he refuses. Meanwhile, Gus offers Walter $3 million to cook meth for three months, but Walter declines, still despairing over the loss of his family. Walter breaks in to his house and stays there despite Skyler's insistence he stay away. Shortly afterward, while Walter is showering, the Mexican drug cartel hitmen Leonel and Marco Salamanca (Daniel and Luis Moncada) break into the house and wait with an axe to kill Walter out of revenge for their cousin Tuco's death. He is only saved by the last minute assistance of Gus, who insists he needs Walter's help producing meth. Skyler threatens to turn Walter in to the police when she realizes he is home, but she fails to go through with it. Later, Skyler reveals to Walter she has had sex with her boss, Ted Beneke (Christopher Cousins).Walter becomes an emotional mess and, at one point, tries to kiss his own boss, assistant principal Carmen Molina (Carmen Serano
Carmen Serano
Carmen Serano is a Hispanic American actress. She starred in the 2007 film Urban Justice alongside Steven Seagal. In 2008 she appeared in five episodes of the series, Breaking Bad.-Personal life:...
), who places him on indefinite suspension as a result. Gus offers Walter a state-of-the-art meth lab concealed beneath an industrial laundry facility. Although Walter initially continues to resist, he eventually accepts Gus's offer, then reluctantly signs Skyler's divorce papers. By this point, Walter and Jesse have had a falling out, and Walter is working with a new lab assistant, Gale Boetticher (David Costabile
David Costabile
David Costabile is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. He is best known for his recurring television roles on The Wire , Flight of the Conchords , Damages , and Breaking Bad...
). When Hank asks Walter if he remembers whether his former student Jesse used a recreational vehicle, Walter realizes Hank is closing in on Jesse and tries to have the RV destroyed. Hank follows Jesse to the repair yard where the RV is kept, which results in Hank finding the RV and pounding on the door while Walter and Jesse are inside. They escape the situation only after Walter arranges for Hank to receive a phone call that his wife, Marie, has been hurt in an accident, prompting Hank to rush off to see her. Walter and Jesse subsequently have the RV destroyed.
Later, a furious Hank beats Jesse to the point that he is hospitalized. Walter convinces Jesse not to press charges and the two make amends after Walter makes Jesse his full partner, resulting in Jesse replacing Gale as his lab assistant. When Hank is shot by Leonel and Marco Salamanca, Skyler insists that she and Walter will pay for Hank's medical bills, and she claims to Marie that Walter made his money by gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
. Skyler gradually starts to become more involved in the dark side of Walter's life and proposes they buy the car wash where he previously worked for a front business to launder his drug money. She also reveals she never filed the divorce papers Walter had signed. Eventually, Jesse learns the drug dealers who killed his friend Combo work for Gus, and that the dealers forced Tomas (Angelo Martinez), the 11-year-old brother of Jesse's girlfriend Andrea (Emily Rios
Emily Rios
Emily Clara Rios is an American actress and model.Rios, a Mexican American, was born in Los Angeles, California. She was raised as a Jehovah's Witness in the city of El Monte, California. Rios was discovered while shopping in an area shopping mall. She has appeared in the short For Them and...
), to commit the murder. Jesse starts making plans to kill them, and Walter seeks to stop this by informing Gus of Jesse's plans. This leads to a meeting between Walter, Gus, Jesse and the drug dealers, during which Gus warns Jesse not to harm the dealers and tells them to stop using children during their deals.
Shortly afterward, however, Tomas is murdered by unknown gunmen, prompting an angry Jesse to seek revenge. Upon local news broadcasts about Tomas' death, Walter realizes how Jesse will respond and seeks to find him. Just before Jesse is about to shoot the dealers, Walter arrives and runs both down with his car. One is killed instantly, then Walter shoots the other to death. Walter places Jesse into hiding, then later tells Gus that he has fled the state. Although Walter insists he wishes to continue cooking meth for Gus, he quickly realizes Gus is grooming his former lab assistant, Gale, to eventually replace Walter. He correctly predicts Gus will try to kill Walter once Gale is ready, so Walter tells Jesse they must kill Gale to prevent this. Jesse does not want to do it and suggests Walter turn himself in to the DEA, but Walter refuses and says he will kill Gale himself. However, before he can do so, Walter is abducted by Gus's henchmen, Mike (Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...
) and Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui), who plan to kill him. Walter claims he will arrange to turn Jesse over to them, but when they allow him to call Jesse, Walter quickly informs Jesse he must now kill Gale himself, or else Mike and Victor will kill him. The third season
Breaking Bad (season 3)
The third season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on March 21, 2010 and concluded on June 13, 2010. It consisted of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length. AMC broadcast the third season on Sundays at 10:00 pm in the United States...
ends with Jesse shooting Gale.
Season four
After Gale's murder, Walter and Jesse are kidnapped by Mike and Victor. They are taken to the laundry and brought before Gus, who slits Victor's throat with a box cutter in a gruesome show of force. Walter is unnerved by Gus's actions, and fears he will kill them at the next opportunity. He plots to pre-emptively kill Gus, illegally purchasing a snubnosed revolverSnubnosed revolver
A snubnosed revolver has a barrel length of less than three inches. It was a popular type of firearm with undercover police officers due to its compact size and ease of handling...
for the task. However, Walter is told by Mike and a new lieutenant, Tyrus Kitt, that Gus has eschewed all contact with him. Walter attempts to kill Gus at his home, only to be confronted by Tyrus. He also approaches Mike at a bar and asks for his help in killing Gus; however, Mike beats Walter and leaves.
With some help from Saul, the Whites force Bogdan into selling his car wash. However, Walter begins recklessly spending his money on other items, buying a Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
for Walt, Jr.; when Skyler refuses to let the boy accept the less-than-inconspicuous gift, an angered Walter destroys the car in an empty parking lot. Walter's demeanor becomes increasingly sinister, frightening Skyler to the point where she contemplates leaving New Mexico. She stays, however, but tells Walter that she intends to "protect this family from the man who protects this family."
The relationship between Walter and Gus continues to deteriorate; Walter discovers that Gus has installed a surveillance camera
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
in the superlab to track his movements, while the depressed Jesse's increasingly erratic behavior makes him a possible target. His troubles increase when Hank begins an unofficial invesigation into Gus, having found evidence linking him to Gale's murder. The oblivious Hank asks Walter to place a tracking device on Gus's car in a Los Pollos Hermanos parking lot; a harried Walter informs Gus of the tracking device, which he later removes. Hank also has Walter drive him to Gus's laundry, which he avoids by deliberately causing a car accident. When Gus learns of this incident, his distrust of Walter deepens.
In another plot to kill Gus, Walter manufactures a small amount of ricin and gives it to Jesse, telling him to covertly poison Gus as soon as possible. However, Jesse fails to follow through out of fear for his own life. Upon learning this, Walter confronts Jesse and the two engage in a brawl, signifying an end to their partnership. Jesse subsequently joins Gus's organization as an apprentice to Mike.
Gus later takes Walter out to the desert and tells him he is "fired" and that if he tries to contact Jesse or interfere with him murdering Hank, Gus will kill his entire family; he couldn't kill Walter outright due to Jesse's adamant opposition, despite their falling out. Walter later regains Jesse's trust by pleading ignorance to Brock's poisoning and suggesting Gus was responsible, as he approved of violent measures against children in the past. Jesse and Walter attempt to kill Gus by rigging his station wagon with a remote-controlled pipe bomb, but Gus senses something is awry and Walt's plan is thwarted. Jesse later tells Walt of Gus's visits to Hector Salamanca at the rest-home; Walt, in collusion with Hector (who weighs the many family members of his Gus has killed versus Walt's role in the death of only Tuco), rigs the pipe bomb to his wheelchair so that Hector may trigger it with his bell. When Gus visits him next, he is killed in the blast, along with Tyrus and Hector.
With Gus dead, Walter storms the superlab and kills two of Gus's henchmen to free Jesse, who had been kidnapped and forced to cook at gunpoint. The two proceed to set fire to the superlab, destroying the entire laundry facility. Afterward, Jesse tells Walter that Brock will live, as he was poisoned not by ricin, but by berries from a Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley
Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....
plant; because of this, Jesse realizes that Gus couldn't have been responsible for Brock's condition. Walter assures Jesse, however, that Gus's murder was necessary. The duo shake hands and part ways. Walter then calls Skyler to assure her that Gus is dead and he has "won". The final shot of this season fixes on a potted Lily of the Valley plant in Walter's backyard, suggesting that Walter was indeed responsible for poisoning Brock.
Development
Breaking Bad creator Vince GilliganVince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan is an American writer, director and producer. He is the creator of the highly acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. Gilligan has also worked on the hit series The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. He is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University...
cast Bryan Cranston for the role of Walter White based on having worked with him in a sixth season
The X-Files (season 6)
The sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox Broadcasting Network in the United States on November 8, 1998, concluding on the same channel on May 16, 1999, and contained 22 episodes. The series was developed by Chris Carter, who also serves as...
episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, where Gilligan worked as a writer. Cranston played an anti-Semitic redneck with a terminal illness who took series protagonist Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
hostage. Gilligan said the character had to be simultaneously loathsome and sympathetic, and that "Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it." AMC officials were initially reluctant with the casting choice, having known Cranston only as the over-the-top character Hal on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, but they were persuaded after Gilligan screened the X-Files episode for them.
Cranston contributed a great deal to the character. When Gilligan left much of Walter's past unexplained during the development of the series, the actor wrote his own back story for the character. At the start of the show, Cranston gained 10 pounds to reflect the character's personal decline. He had the natural red highlights in his hair dyed a regular brown. He collaborated with costume designer Kathleen Detoro on a wardrobe of mostly neutral green and brown colors to make the character bland and unremarkable, and worked with makeup artist Frieda Valenzuela to create a mustache he described as "impotent" and like a "dead caterpillar". Cranston has also repeatedly identified elements in scripts where he disagreed with how the character was handled, and has gone so far as to call Gilligan directly when he could not work out disagreements with the episode screenwriters. Cranston has said he was inspired partially by his elderly father for how Walter carries himself physically, which he described as "a little hunched over, never erect, [as if] the weight of the world is on this man's shoulders". In contrast to his character, Cranston has been described as extremely playful on set, with Aaron Paul describing him as "a kid trapped in a man's body".
Gilligan has said his goal with Walter White is to turn Mr. Chips
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
into Scarface
Tony Montana
Antonio Raimundo "Tony" Montana is a fictional character from the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie...
. Gilligan has said it is difficult to write for Walter White because the character is so dark and morally questionable: "I'm going to miss the show when it's over, but on some level, it'll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore." As the series has progressed, Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad have made Walter more and more unsympathetic. Gilligan said: "He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why." Cranston said by the fourth season
Breaking Bad (season 4)
The fourth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on July 17, 2011 and concluded on October 9, 2011. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length...
: "I think Walt's figured out it's better to be a pursuer than the pursued. He's well on his way to badass."
Reviews
New YorkNew York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine writer Emma Rosenblum said Bryan Cranston "pulls off the unassuming White with flawless subtlety: a waxy pallor, a slump of the shoulders, and a sense of doom that is palpable". The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
writer Tim Goodman praised as courageous Vince Gilligan's decision to transform Walter White into an unsympathetic character: "You don't take your main character and make him unlikable. You just don't. Nobody does that. Nobody has ever really done that to this extent."
Awards
Bryan Cranston won three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, the first actor to do so since Bill CosbyBill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
for the 1960s secret-agent adventure series I Spy.
External links
- Walter White at AMC.com