‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Says Finale Was Not A Dream

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has dismissed speculation that the series finale was just a dream.

Some fans theorized that the finale took place in Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) mind, a la Newhart.

Gilligan, however, told The Hollywood Reporter that the finale was real.

“Because Walt would therefore have to be dreaming about things he would otherwise have no knowledge of,” he explained.

Gilligan also said that none of the Breaking Bad characters were safe from death — not even baby Holly. Some fans believed that she was off limits because she is named after Gilligan’s longtime girlfriend, Holly Rice.

“Everybody was on the table,” he said. “We had some pretty dark days in the writers’ room where we talked about a great many awful potential storylines.”

Gilligan added, “Nobody was safe really in the writers’ room. Not even baby Holly.”

Vince Gilligan did reveal five alternate Breaking Bad finales, including one that involved Walter going out in a blaze of glory with the M60 machine gun that he used on Jack and the Nazis. Gilligan said he and the other writers decided against that ending because “felt wrong for Walt to go out brawn over brain.” Another possible ending involved Walter turning the machine gun on police, but the writers didn’t like that route, either.

Yet another scenario would have seen Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) going to jail, with the Nazis planning to use prisoners on the inside to kill him. Jesse was actually supposed to be killed off in the first season by a drug dealer, with Walter torturing the man responsible in his basement. Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) tries to help the man, but ends up setting off a tripwire that Walter set up, killing himself and the drug dealer.

Vince Gilligan and writer Peter Gould are currently working on the Breaking Bad spinoff series, tentatively titled Better Call Saul, based on Bob Odenkirk’s character. Gilligan said he wants to bring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul back for the spinoff, which takes place before the events of Breaking Bad.