Breaking Bad: 10 Storylines The Show Dropped
AMC's Breaking Bad lives up to its reputation as a true television addiction. Here are some storylines the show dropped.
It’s mind-blowing to find out some of the things that could have happened on a favorite show. What if a certain character died? What if they turned into something that wasn’t originally written in the script? What if they never got involved in a specific life-changing situation? Whichever the case may be, show creators have come forward and confessed that multiple ideas were eventually scrapped but were once under consideration.
AMC’s Breaking Bad lives up to its reputation as a true television addiction. It’s incredibly difficult to lose interest in Vince Gilligan’s show. But he and others in the production told publications, including Entertainment Weekly, of the many initial ideas they once had. Here are some of the storylines that Breaking Bad almost involved.
Jessie Dying
Even in one of Aaron Paul’s Emmy’s speeches, he admitted that Jesse was supposed to die by saying, “Thank you so much for not killing me off!”
Imagine if the complex and beloved Jesse Pinkman had died on the show. Most fans think that the show just wouldn’t have become as impactful as it was destined to be without Paul’s character. Jesse’s entire character conveys to viewers a coming-of-age story, in some ways, through his experiences of love, loss, and self-discovery.
Skyler Dying
Walt’s tough-as-nails, complicated wife, Skyler White, was actually supposed to die a pretty disturbing death.
It was originally written that “Skyler and Walt are tied up in a Motel 6 kind of place, and he’s talking to her in a bathroom, saying, ‘It’s going to be alright. I’ve got a plan,'” with Walt then opening the door to see Skyler’s wrists cut. It was a good thing that the writers later realized it wouldn’t have been a strong idea if they had Skyler killed off.
Walter Jr. As A Bully
The sweet and kind Walter Jr. as a bully? This idea was discussed but in an even more twisted, enigmatic manner. RJ Mitte beautifully portrayed Walter and Skyler’s son, a.k.a “Flynn” on the show, but there was a strange idea to have Walt Jr. come home from school with a black eye, causing the parents to suspect that he was being mercilessly bullied.
So, Walt was about to get revenge on the student he thought was bullying his son by planting weed in the kid’s locker, until Walt found out that it was his son who had bullied this kid, initially. The writers got rid of this idea because “the stakes weren’t high enough” for this one.
Walt Opening A Pharmacy
That’s seriously the quintessential way to “hide in plain sight,” as Gus Fring says in the show. Rather than owning the car wash, Walt was supposed to deal with bootleg pharmaceuticals.
However, the team thought this wasn’t the best idea in the end, clearly, but it’s intriguing to imagine Walt possibly having meth sold in certain capsules marked by a particular logo. Who knows how this would have gone down if it had been produced for the show?
Walt In A South American Prison
According to the proposed storyline, Walt was going to fly down to South America to see a renowned drug lord, who was apparently running his drug business from prison. The purpose of the whole interaction was for Walt to agree with the drug lord. The writers however wanted to focus more on Gus and Walt’s relationship.
Skyler And Marie On A Road Trip
The sisters were supposed to hit the road in Season 1 to visit their father, where a lot more details about the sisters and their choices would have been revealed.
Skyler and Marie’s father would have been a “lying, bastard, artists dude” that would have given “insight into why Skyler picked a guy who was so steady and straightforward to be married to,” according to the writers. Nevertheless, this seemed like it was moving away from the main story from the writers’ perspectives.
Western Frontier Connection
Breaking Bad has this interesting focus on the desert of the New Mexico area. How cool would it have been if an olden-times frontier storyline was introduced?
Well, there were supposed to be flashbacks to a time from about one hundred years before of a New Mexico cowboy. In a structural film sense, these flashes were supposed to mirror how Season 2’s airplane crash images appear throughout multiple episodes. Somehow, the entire frontier-times backstory was going to tie into Walt’s present-day story. Many fans have said they would have loved for this to have been incorporated into the show.
Marie Shooting A Delivery Driver
Aside from Marie’s thief lifestyle as fans should recall, she was also apparently about to shoot a UPS driver. It was supposed to be a mistake, thinking that he was an intruder lurking around her home.
However, the writers quickly discovered that this event wouldn’t have turned into a meaningful enough storyline, since Hank would obviously have had to get her out of the ordeal. This would have kept viewers on the edge of their seats, though, because how would a DEA agent find a way for his wife to avoid a conviction for murder?
Jesse And Jane’s Dad
After the eminent air-traffic controller loses his daughter to her violent drug overdose and causes the biggest plane crash in local history, the writers thought of having Jane’s father attempt suicide, therefore bringing Jesse to form some kind of relationship with him in a visit to his hospital room.
Unfortunately, the writing team saw that Jesse’s entire story was already going in its own direction, and this would have been too much of a tangent from it.
The Creation Of Drug Kingpin, Keyser Söze
Gus Fring possibly may not have happened if this character had been introduced. The writers were contemplating this character, named Keyser, who would have had a gory, violent scene paralyzing someone in a deserted area near a store.
Being that the writer’s strike was the main cause behind the first season being as short as it is, this idea was pinned and set aside, and then later eliminated. However, Gus Fring’s horrific scenes took this character’s place. So, even though fans never got to meet this drug lord, Keyser, Gilligan and his team didn’t fail to maintain the gore.
