Is Walter White Still Alive? 'Breaking Bad' Creator Finally Confirms What Happened To The Infamous Heisenberg
Ahead of the release of "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie," Vince Gilligan puts an end to speculation over the fate of the notorious teacher-turned-meth king.
"Breaking Bad” is coming back this week in the form of a brand new movie, but does that mean Walter White is coming back too?
Maybe.
Vince Gilligan, creator of both the AMC show “Breaking Bad” and “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” which will stream on Netflix and play in some theaters starting Friday, talked about White during a “The Rich Eisen Show” appearance.
When pressed on whether the high school chemistry teacher-turned-ruthless meth dealer, played by Bryan Cranston, is still alive, he responded, “Yes, Walter White is dead. Yes.”
Okay, so, this puts to rest some rumors that he could still be alive, partially fueled by a 2018 interview Cranston did with Conan O’Brien.
“Maybe Walter White did get away with it,” he had said at the time, according to TV Guide. “Was there a coroner’s report? No. Was there a listing in the obituaries? No.”
Just because Walt is dead doesn’t mean he couldn’t appear in the movie in the form of a flashback, though. When asked if Cranston is involved in the new movie, Gilligan hesitated to answer.
The trailer for the new movie shows Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul) on the run from the law after Walt rescues him from neo-Nazis who had been holding him hostage and forcing him to make meth.
Watch the trailer, below:
The trailer foreshadows a bleak continuation of the “Breaking Bad” world. The original show, which lasted five seasons, began on a much brighter note though. At least at first. Walt started out as a soft-spoken family man and high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, decided to team up with his former student Jesse to make and sell methamphetamine to get money for his family before he dies. In the end, though, Walt ends up enjoying his descent into the criminal underworld and takes on the new persona Heisenberg.
The upcoming film was apparently shot in secret; Bob Odenkirk, who played criminal lawyer Saul Goodman in the original series and who has his own spin-off series “Better Call Saul,” told Radio Times in August that the filmmakers had “done an amazing job of keeping it a secret.”
Gilligan said on “The Rich Eisen Show” that “we had cover stories that our producers would make up.” In one case, producers claimed they were shooting a television commercial for a “Breaking Bad” tour. High profile actors like Paul had to be snuck into town. The show creator credited the people of Albuquerque, where both the series and movie were shot, for helping to keep it under wraps.
“El Camino” will play in 68 movie theaters, including ones in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Albuquerque starting on Oct. 11, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie, which is two hours long, will also stream on Netflix beginning the same day, before going back home to AMC where the show originally aired.