‘Breaking Bad’ Spanish Version Announced By Univision, That’s News To Sony

Breaking Bad, the Spanish version, was announced by Univision on Friday, and to here Sony tell it, you could have knocked them over with a feather.

A Sony representative, who chose to remain unnamed when speaking with The Wrap, said that a Spanish language pilot of the popular AMC show had been produced, but “it’s not in development with them or anything like that.”

The rep said that Sony had placed a call to Univision to express their disappointment at the announcement. The details of that conversation were not immediately available, nor has Univision released an explanation at the time of this story.

The Univision series will be called Metastasis, and will presumably follow the same plot line of Breaking Bad, in which a high school chemistry teacher finds out he has terminal cancer and then teams with a former student to cook and sell meth as sort of a last means of support for his family.

The American version will launch the second half of its fifth and final season on July 15. It stars Bryan Cranston as Walter White, the teacher, and Aaron Paul as his protege.

If you have yet to check this thing out, take it from someone who just watched the first four seasons on Netflix in a two-week time period last month: it’s must-see television.

If my Spanish was a little better, it would be particularly interesting to see how the dynamics change with Metastasis, or whichever adaptation ends up winning the blessing of Sony.

According to a conference call earlier today, a Univision rep told Slate that the show would be “customized in a culturally relevant manner,” while using original Spanish-language scripts, and “stars our community knows.”

Until then, here’s a preview of season five. Word of warning: do NOT watch if you’re still waiting to start the show:

Fans of the show need not cry too much over the cancellation. Spinoff talks are already underway with popular secondary character Saul Goodman being discussed as a frontrunner.

You can also pick up the DVDs or catch reruns on the Sundance Channel.

What are your thoughts on a Spanish-language version of Breaking Bad, and which character would you like to see get a spinoff when the series comes to a close later this year?