It’s hard to believe it but Breaking Bad is now over. As critics pour over the finale and dissect it to pieces, fans around the world are trying to come to terms with the fact that Walter White is gone forever from their television screens. As satisfying as the finale was, it’s still a tough fact to swallow that we’ll never see the show again.
And so, as everyone discusses their feelings on what happened last night, and talks about why or why it didn’t work for them, one person who certainly has a lot to say about the finale is series creator Vince Gilligan. In a recent interview with EW, he revealed that originally, they had planned for a much more intense ending to the show.
Check out his exact quote below:
“We didn’t feel an absolute need for Walt to expire at the end of the show. Our gut told us it was right. As the writers and I worked through all these different possibilities, it felt right, but I don’t think it was a necessity for us. There was a version we kicked around where Walt is the only one who survives, and he’s standing among the wreckage and his whole family is destroyed. That would be a very powerful ending but very much a kick-in-the-teeth kind of ending for the viewers. We talked about a version where Jesse kills Walt. We talked about a version where Walt more or less gets away with it,” Gilligan said.
“There’s no right or wrong way to do this job — it’s just a matter of: You get as many smart people around you as possible in the writers room, and I was very lucky to have that. And when our gut told us we had it, we wrote it, and I guess our gut told us that it would feel satisfying for Walt to at least begin to make amends for his life and for all the sadness and misery wrought upon his family and his friends.”
I’ll be honest with you. When I saw the finale last night, I didn’t love it. I felt a bit uneasy as to how they chose to tie things up. Upon further reflection though, and after another viewing, I’m beginning to warm up to what Gilligan ultimately decided to do with the Walter White character.
While I think that the ending Gilligan mentioned above (with the White family destroyed and only Walt survives) would have been an interesting route to go down as well, I think that the ending that aired last night is ultimately, the most fitting option.
Tell us, were you satisfied with the Breaking Bad finale? Let us know in the comments below.