Breaking Bad: Walter White’s Bloody Handprint Was In El Camino
Vince Gilligan left a piece of Walt's final Breaking Bad scene in El Camino. The Easter egg can be seen during a flashback featuring Jesse in the lab.
Walter White’s bloody handprint from Breaking Bad can briefly be seen in El Camino, the sequel movie released by Netflix last October. Walt’s demise occurred in the Breaking Bad series finale, which aired in September 2013; at that time, his fate was left ambiguous. One clear sign regarding the severity of his injuries was his immense loss of blood, revealed by the bloody handprint he left on the lab equipment. That trace of the former kingpin made its way into El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
A Breaking Bad movie was rumored ever since the AMC series came to an end. In 2017, the project came into fruition, but the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, kept many of the details a secret. It was later revealed that the sequel film would focus on Jesse Pinkman after he escaped from Jack Welker’s compound in the Breaking Bad series finale. Aaron Paul was set to reprise his role as Jesse, and a number of other cast members were rumored to return. An official trailer for the film was released by Netflix in August before the feature-length film dropped in October.
Viewers were eager to follow Jesse along on the next step of his journey. El Camino gave Todd Alquist more of a backstory by filling in the blanks that explained the trauma Jesse endured while being locked up at the white supremacists’ compound. Fans of Breaking Bad were also curious to see if Bryan Cranston would be reprising his role as Walt. The movie confirmed the character’s death early, but Walt returned in a flashback before the movie closed out. In addition, a piece of his past in the form of his handprint was featured in the movie, which many fans probably missed: the handprint’s origins were confirmed by the behind-the-scenes video posted by Netflix.
The Same Props From Breaking Bad Were Used For El Camino
Before Walt succumbed to his injuries in the Breaking Bad finale, he walked around the meth lab at the compound and touched one of the large cooking vessels, leaving behind his bloody handprint. As explained by The Road to El Camino: Behind the Scenes, the compound built for the series was taken down. The production crew was tasked with recreating the entire set. Gilligan added that most of the equipment used for El Camino was the original props from Breaking Bad. He didn’t have the heart to clean off Walt’s handprint so he left it on there as a fun Easter egg.
The existence of Walt’s handprint doesn’t technically make sense, since it can be seen in the flashback sequence showing Jesse being tortured at the compound while being forced to cook meth. This event happened well before Walt ambushed the location, getting himself gravely injured in the process. That said, the handprint in El Camino is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Easter egg, and serves as a clever callback to the original Breaking Bad storyline. For those who haven’t had a chance to catch El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, the film is set to air February 16, 2020, on AMC.
