Several ‘Breaking Bad’ Alternate Endings Revealed By Vince Gilligan
Series creator Vince Gilligan has revealed five Breaking Bad alternate endings that he and the writing staff considered before choosing to go the route we all saw Sunday night. Love or hate the finale, most would have to agree Breaking Bad ended on as much of an “up note” as possible. Be glad — Gilligan says there were several other possible endings that are borderline sadistic. You be the judge.
One possibility, Gilligan says, had Walter White pulling a Rambo,Time reports. At least, this was originally the idea when the M60 machine gun was written in. But eventually, Gillian explains, he and the other writers agreed that it “felt wrong for Walt to go out brawn over brain.” In a similar possible alternate ending, Breaking Bad’s writers considered having Walt turn the machine gun on the police. Eventually, though, it just didn’t seem right either.
The following possible endings may have resulted in an extremely different season, overall. One scenario results in Jesse ending up in jail. To keep him silent, the Nazis plan to use inside gang members to kill Jesse, much like they were hired to do previously, by Walt. Walt learns of this plan, then takes the M60 to break Jesse out and in the process possibly laying waste “to an entire prison or prison bus.”
Another idea that Gilligan says that was up for consideration involved Skyler becoming suicidal. Though he doesn’t explain the lead up to this, there could have been a scene at a “Motel 6 kind of place” with Walt and Skyler. In the scene, Walt’s talking to Skyler, who has locked herself in the bathroom. She stops talking and he finally breaks the door down. He finds Skyler “and she’s in a bloody tub or something like that.”
Think that’s harsh? Perhaps the darkest ending was already in mind before Gilligan began shooting the first season of Breaking Bad. At some point near the end, Jesse is killed by a drug dealer. We’re going to assume that would likely have been the Nazis, or at least one of them. Walt then finds Jesse’s killer and shackles him up in his basement (much like Krazy-8 in the show’s first season). There, Walt tortures the drug dealer and sets up a shotgun tripwire trap. Walt Jr. finds the bound man and attempts to give him water. While walking to him, he accidentally sets off the trap and they are both killed.
Yikes. It sounds like Breaking Bad could have been even darker, as hard as that is to believe. What do you think? Would one of these alternate endings to Breaking Bad been better than the one that aired Sunday?
[Image via Frank Ockenfels / AMC]
