Vince Gilligan Has ‘No Interest’ in a Walt Jr. ‘Breaking Bad’ Spinoff: ‘That Would Be Depressing as Hell’
Vince Gilligan may have created “Breaking Bad” epilogue film “El Camino” and prequel series “Better Call Saul,” but don’t expect “Heisenberg Jr.” any time soon.
Ten years after the “Breaking Bad” series finale, creator and showrunner Gilligan told Variety that he has “no interest” in a spinoff series centered around Walter White’s son Walt Jr., played by RJ Mitte.
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“I’d hate the thought of Walt Jr. following in Walt’s footsteps in the crime business. That’s probably the kind of thing somebody will pitch 10 or 15 years from now — Walter Jr. as an Albuquerque crime lord succeeding where his father failed,” Gilligan said. “I could pretty much guarantee right now that I have no interest in seeing that happen. That’d be a sad tribute to the show.”
He continued, “It’s fun thinking about what would happen to the characters, but it doesn’t rise to the level of, ‘Gee, I’d like to tell more about the story.’ But who knows, in a few years maybe.” However, a “Heisenberg Jr.” follow-up is “doubtful as hell.”
Gilligan added, “The only attractive thing about that idea is working with RJ Mitte again because he’s a wonderful actor and sweet guy. But that would be depressing as hell. That would be the wrong lesson from the show, if there are any lessons at all to be gleaned from it.”
Gilligan admitted that he hopes Walt Jr. and his mother Skyler (Anna Gunn) found their own version of a happy ending after Walter White (Bryan Cranston) dies at the end of “Breaking Bad.”
“Every now and then I find myself thinking about those characters, daydreaming about what would have happened to them,” Gillian said. “Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte are such wonderful people playing such interesting roles that I can’t help but want a happy ending for them. When ‘Breaking Bad’ ends, it’s not a very happy ending for those characters at all, but it is presented that their lives go on. I’d like to believe things get better for them.”
Gilligan is currently working on another series with “Better Call Saul” actor Rhea Seehorn and a two-season order at Apple TV+. “We’re officially back in the writers room on Monday,” he said, now that the WGA strike has ended. He teased, “I would call it mild science fiction. But it does have a sci-fi element to it, at its core. And there’s no crime, and no methamphetamine.”
Gilligan said that while he’d prefer to “leave it be” in terms of more “Breaking Bad,” he admitted, “To be brutally honest, if I get my ass handed to me with this next show and the one after that, and nobody wants to see it and everybody wants ‘Breaking Bad,’ who knows!”
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