40 Breaking Bad facts you may not know

You’ve seen every episode of Breaking Bad, but do you know about these little known facts about one of the greatest television shows of all-time?

Nearly nine years have passed since the series finale of Vince Gilligan’s drama about a high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with lung cancer and turns to cooking meth to leave enough money behind for his family to live on after he’s dead.

Here are 40 facts about Breaking Bad that you may not have known before but now you can impress your friends with your killer knowledge of the show.

This post was originally written by Patrick Schmidt and has been updated by FanSided Entertainment.

Show and cast information gathered from IMDB as well as some trivia unless otherwise noted.

Anna Gunn hates the hate toward Skyler

The hate directed at Anna Gunn’s character Skyler spilled over into real life when the actress was the target for attacks from delusional fans.

She wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times about playing the role of Skyler White, the wife of a cancer-stricken meth cook who protects her family at all costs from the dangerous man she shared a bed with and never would have imagined she would be so hated for that.

Viewers didn’t like her because she didn’t let Walt do as he pleased and didn’t want her and her son and newborn daughter to be in any danger and wanted him to stop being a drug kingpin. How awful of her! Viewers rooted for the protagonist, the anti-hero, all while throwing Skyler under the bus.

Mike’s death tribute

Mike was one of the good, bad guys on the show so when the time came for his run on the show to end, the cast and crew was understandably in a state of grief and mourning. When Walt shoots and kills Mike, everyone wore black armbands to pay tribute to the character and the man playing the role.

Jonathan Banks was the actor who played Mike and you can watch him on the spinoff series, Better Call Saul, which also stars Bob Odenkirk reprising his role Saul Goodman and will feature a few other easter eggs from Breaking Bad.

Wendy the hooker is quite convincing

Wendy the hooker was a recurring character and meth addict who had a key role in Jesse’s character and his whereabouts when Hank and the DEA was closing in on him. It turns out she is really quite convincing in her role when she’s in character because someone tried to pick her up during production thinking she was a prostitute.

In real life, the actor who plays Wendy, Julia Minesci is the embodiment of health, having competed in Ironman competitions and running several marathons.

What are they smoking?

What are the characters smoking when they’re smoking meth on the show? Naturally, they aren’t sampling Heisenberg’s blue meth, because that would impair their performance, not too mention, it’s really illegal, so they smoke sugar and/or rock candy.

Yikes. That’s one way to get a sugar high, but they don’t inhale though. That’s probably for the best.

Walter Jr. in real life

R.J. Mitte played Walter Jr., the breakfast loving teenage son of Walt and Skyler on the show who has cerebral palsy. He actually has cerebral palsy in real life, but his symptoms aren’t as severe as that of the character he played and he had to teach himself how to walk with crutches and slurred his speech.

Since Breaking Bad, Mitte has appeared in shows like Switched at Birth, Now Apocalypse, and This Close.

Walter Jr. never knew Jesse

Jesse clearly knew Walt and despite his best initial efforts to keep him away from his family, Jesse met Skyler after she confronted him at his home after Walt said he bought pot from him. Later they’d cross paths at one of the most awkward dinners of all-time when Jesse is complimenting Skyler about slivered almonds in the green beans.

We know he had several run-ins Hank and would later meet Marie, but Jesse never met Walter Jr. He is the only other major character that Jesse didn’t meet on the show and that’s for the best, because that would have been really awkward and uncomfortable when Jr. starts asking questions.

The original plan for Jane’s death

The death of Jane and how she died was one of the turning points in the middle of the show that forever changed the arcs of Walt, Jesse and the world they lived in. It indirectly resulted in a plane crash after Jane’s father and air traffic controller was distracted while grieving and couldn’t focus on his job.

When Walt breaks into Jesse’s house with he and Jane in a drug-induced stupor, he was originally originally supposed to give her a fatal dose of heroin, but Cranston nixed that idea because it would have been too dark for the character at that time.

Plan B was to have Walt roll Jane on her back so she’d choke on her vomit, but was scratched for the same reasons.

That left us with Walk serving as a passive role in her death instead of an active role and stood there in horror as he watched Jane vomit, convulse and die while she lay next to Jesse.

Jane’s death took a toll

The death of Jane had huge implications on the show but it also took its toll on the cast, specifically Cranston who was moved to tears after filming the scene where he stood at the end of the bed in Jesse’s bedroom and watched as Jane died.

His character’s selfish decision to let her die to protect himself and his meth empire shook up the characters on the show, but filming such a heart wrenching scene was enough for the Emmy Award winner to be overcome with emotion.

He wasn’t alone as I’m sure many viewers were as well after seeing what played out on their television sets.

It was all a dream?

Fans who purchased the final season on DVD and/or Blu-Ray may already know because they’ve watched all the bonus features by now, but those who only saw the show on AMC or on Netflix may not know about a special dream sequence.

There is an alternate ending for the series finale with Bryan Cranston reprising his role as Hal from Malcolm n the Middle who woke up from a nightmare (Breaking Bad) with his wife Lois, played by Jane Kaczmarek making a cameo in the bonus feature on the DVD.

Now that’s some dream!

The coordinates

Walt buried his barrels that held his near-$100 million fortune from his meth empire in the middle of nowhere in the New Mexico and the site for some of the most suspenseful and intense moments in the show’s history.

But if you type those coordinates in your GPS you’re not gonna end up in the middle of nowhere. You’re actually going to be taken to Q Studios in Albuquerque, N.M. where the show was shot.

Those lottery numbers didn’t bring Walt, Hank and the rest of the gang much luck, so I wouldn’t suggest playing those numbers in your state’s lotto.

Aaron Paul on The Price is Right

Before you knew Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, he was Aaron Sturtevant on an episode of The Price is Right as a very enthusiastic 20-year-old who played “dice game” for a new car.

He almost won too. He was off on the last digit and just missed winning a new car, but he got to play in the showcase showdown and came so close to winning there too, but he overbid on his showcase by a measly $132.

Don’t you just wish he said, “Yo, b***h!” to Bob Barker?

Anthony Hopkins wrote fan mail to Bryan Cranston

Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins fell in love with Breaking Bad, as did most of the world, and even went as far as to write personal fan mail to Cranston. According to Vanity Fair, the acclaimed actor wrote to the Walter White actor to compliment his performance back in 2013, calling it the “best acting I have seen – ever.”

Hopkins shared that he watched all five seasons in just two week’s time, which is honestly wild! He continued by writing to Cranston:

“I know there is so much smoke blowing and sickening bulls**t in this business, and I’ve sort of lost belief in anything really. But this work of yours is spectacular — absolutely stunning.”

Aaron Paul had no formal training

When Aaron Paul wasn’t trying to win the showcase showdown on The Price is Right, he wasn’t busy honing his craft as an actor because he never had any formal training or took acting classes. In an AMA on Reddit, Paul said he learned how to act through trial and error.

"“The only training I have is really trial and error. I never went to any sort of class. When I came out to LA I was 17 years old and I sat in on two different classes. What I saw during those classes was them doing these strange acting exercises which I didn’t understand. I always just thought ‘hey, pretend like you’re being someone else and that’s all there is to it.'”"

Not too bad for a guy who was nominated for the best supporting actor five times and won the Emmy three times.

The staggering body count

In a show as violent and ruthless as this one, you have to expect a lot of murder and Breaking Bad didn’t disappoint with a staggering 270 people who died on the show.

That’s an average of 4.35 per episode! Granted, 167 of them were the passengers in the plane crash that Walter White helped cause, but that’s still 103 deaths in 62 episodes, many of them happening in the final episode.

What’s the most popular way to go out in the show? It wasn’t ricin or a bomb attached to a wheelchair, but rather guns as 56 of the murders came as a result of a bullet.

Scarface inspiration

Vince Gilligan has often referred to the character of Walter White as a Mr. Chips type transitioning into a Scarface character so it was funny to see Walter and Walter Jr. staying up late one night to watch the classic movie in one episode.

Another Scarface reference is actor Steven Bauer who appears in two episodes as Don Eladio and played Tony Montana’s right hand man Manny Ribera in Scarface and Hector Salamanca played by Mark Margolis.

All the big celebrities watched Breaking Bad

As one of the biggest shows of all time, it’s not surprising that celebrities were also addicted to Breaking Bad. Many of them even live-tweeted along with fans, including comedians Seth Meyers, Patton Oswalt, and Jimmy Kimmel, along with actress Melissa Gilbert.

For the Breaking Bad finale, we saw Emmy Rossum, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Smith, Ewan McGregor, Shonda Rhimes, and so many other A-listers take to social media to comment on the end of the how. The series brought upon such a community that Gilligan likely couldn’t have ever imagined.

No star power

The cast of the show are all huge stars now but before the show was on television, there wasn’t much star power attracting viewers to see the show for a particular actor.

Bryan Cranston was on Malcolm in the Middle and had numerous guest appearances on shows and Anna Gunn was on Deadwood, albeit in a small role, but there weren’t many recognizable faces.

That was all by Vince Gilligan’s design who wanted lesser known actors and even after the show exploded and high-profile actors wanted to be on the show, he stayed true to his plan and had to reject those big stars who wanted parts.

Jesse’s catchphrase

Jesse had his own particular way of expressing himself and was fond of one particular word more than others. Yes, he often began or ended many of his sentences with the word “b***h” and nearly said it in every episode. There are 62 episodes of the show and Jesse said the magical word a whopping 54 times.

If only he and the writers could have found a way to squeeze it in eight more times for an average of one “b***h” per episode for symmetry purposes.

The “say my name” phenomenon

Walter White had the classic scene when he’s talking to a rival meth operation and commands them to say his name and bow to the powerful Heisenberg, but White’s partner, Jesse only said his name twice during the entire series.

He always referred to his partner in crime as Mr. White or “b***h” but he made two exceptions when he actually referred to him by his first name.

It just wouldn’t have been natural for the teacher and student to be on a first name basis now would it?

George R.R. Martin had thoughts about the show

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin was among the many celebrities who tuned in to watch Breaking Bad, and he even once compared his villainous characters to Walter White. In 2013, the acclaimed writer wrote in his blog (via Variety) that Heisenberg was a “bigger monster” than anyone he had written in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

“Walter White is a bigger monster than anyone in Westeros. (I need to do something about that.),” Martin wrote after watching a new episode.

Kris Kristofferson almost appeared

Famed singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson almost had a role in Breaking Bad, according to Entertainment Weekly. Back in season 1, there was supposed to be a storyline where Skylar and Marie go on a road trip to spend time with their father, who would be played by Kristofferson.

While this certainly would’ve been interesting, the writers decided against it in the end.

Writer Gennifer Hutchison explained of the decision to scrap the storyline: “The plot veered too far astray from our main story. It just wasn’t the show. It didn’t fit with the tone.”

Cranston’s one-in-a-million shot

Remember in Season 3 when Walt wanted to have a pizza with his family but Skyler didn’t think that was a good idea and wouldn’t let him in the house?

Of course you do, because it gave us one of the more memorable moments with a furious Walt who in a fit of rage launched the giant pie up onto the roof in one take.

What are the odds?!

Vince Gilligan said of the one-in-a-million pizza launch, “you wish you had been there to witness it happen. .x. It as too perfect to be real, but in fact it was.”

HBO didn’t think it would last

Just like fellow AMC drama, The Walking Dead, this show too was passed on by the executives at HBO. The network only read the pilot episode and passed on the show because they didn’t think it had much staying power. Little did they know that the show would last 62 episodes, rake in the Emmys, become a cultural sensation and go down as one of the best series of all-time.

Think HBO would like to have that decision back? I wonder if it left the decision makers there with some regret and sleepless nights. It certainly left the network without a sizable chunk of change from the two smash hits.

Awards and legacy

Breaking Bad won a whopping 16 Emmy Awards during its run, including Bryan Cranston for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Aaron Paul for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Anna Gunn for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, the series as a whole for Outstanding Drama Series, and more. The show is widely considered the best of all time, and at the show’s conclusion, it had become one of the most-watched cable series in America.

The series even caught the attention of the Guinness Book of World Records, being named the most critically acclaimed show of all time. This came after Breaking Bad received a 99% on MetaCritic.com.

The Breaking Bad tattoo

After Bryan Cranston finished shooting his scenes and the show wrapped, the actor who played Walter White for 62 episodes got something permanent to make sure he’s always a part of the show. Cranston got a Breaking Bad tattoo on his ring finger to commemorate his time and experiences on the show.

According to TheWrap, he got the tattoo on the final day of filming. “We were having a couple of drinks at a bar and they brought in a tattoo artist and we thought, ‘Why not? This is the time to do it.'”

A meeting that never happened

Throughout Breaking Bad, we get to see Walter’s relationship with his family members, Jesse, colleagues, meth distributors, and more. Each person in his life is so important to the story, but what’s funny is that two of the closest characters to him never ended up meeting. As Screen Rant points out, Jesse and Walter Jr., Walter’s son, never cross paths.

Screen Rant also breaks down why the two central characters never met.

In real life, of course, actors Aaron Paul and RJ Mitte seemed close during the show’s run, posing together at award shows for photos and attending interviews together.

Influence on New Mexico meth dealers

As is often the case, elements of the fictional show have played their way into the real world. The blue meth that Walt and Jesse manufactured and set themselves apart from the rest of the meth dealers in Breaking Bad is influencing drug dealers in New Mexico where there has been a rise in blue meth found on the streets.

Homeland Security Investigations in New Mexico also have seen red meth make its way onto the streets in an effort to brand themselves, but unlike the meth that Walt and Jesse made, this blue and red-tinted meth is not as pure and is making people sick.

Vince Gilligan’s one regret

With a show this successful, it’s only natural to wonder if the showrunner had any regrets about the choices he made. Whether it be a character’s death, a random storyline, or even a single quote, there’s a ton of material in the five seasons. Well, according to Mental Floss, Gilligan regrets letting Jesse have such nice teeth.

Gilligan once shared on what he’d do differently if he could:

“One thing that sort of troubled me, looking back over the entirety of the show: Jesse’s teeth were a little too perfect. There were all the beatings he took, and, of course, he was using meth, which is brutal on your teeth. He’d probably have terrible teeth in real life.”

Walking Dead connection-Part 1

In the first season of The Walking Dead you have to look carefully but there is an easter egg for Breaking Bad fans. When the group of survivors are on the highway and looking for medicine, Darryl has a bad of prescription bottles in a bag that has some blue meth in the bottom in a nod to the blue meth made by Walt and Jesse.

But that’s not the only connection the show they share with the show of which they shared a network.

The Walking Dead connection-Part 2

The Challenger that Walter bought for his son Walter, Jr before Skyler made him return it so they didn’t attract attention to themselves was referenced in one of the first scenes of The Walking Dead when Glenn used the car (with the alarm blasting) to draw the walkers away from Rick and the early group of survivors.

Glenn got to have a little joy ride, albeit with the alarm blasting, but unlike Walter didn’t get to do any donuts and he certainly didn’t torch the thing like Walt did in another one of his fits of rage.

 The Walking Dead connection-Part 3

When Beth and Darryl are separated from the rest of the group after the Governor and his cronies attacked the prison where they had found sanctuary, we finally learned more about his past and what made him the person that we see on the show.

Darryl is talking about his older brother Merle and his drug dealer who was a “janky little white guy” and I don’t know about you but that sounds like a spot-on description of one Jesse Pinkman.

But wait, it gets better. Darryl then tells Beth about an altercation he had with the dealer who said, “I’m gonna kill you, b***h.”

Yep, so Jesse Pinkman sold blue meth to Darryl and that’s how the zombie apocalypse started, at least it’s funny to think of it like that.

The Walking Dead connection-Part 4

The coolest of the connections to The Walking Dead took place in the fourth season when Gus Fring’s character was killed off in a nursing home explosion. Walt set up the bomb to Tio Salamanca’s wheelchair who blew the room to smithereens and we saw half of Gus’ face completely melted off.

He looked a little like the walkers we see on TWD and there’s a perfectly good reason for that, because the prosthetic effects crew from TWD spent months to get the look just right. And then it took 19 takes for Gilligan to be pleased with the final product that left the viewer cheering at his death but also in awe at the effects.

Bryan Cranston’s critical acclaim hasn’t slowed down

Though Breaking Bad really put Cranston on the map as a serious actor, he hasn’t let the role define him. After the show concluded, the celeb went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his leading part in Trumbo (2015), scored Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for All the Way (2018), was more recently nominated for a Golden Globe for his starring role in Showtime’s Your Honor (2020).

Your Honor has been renewed for a second season at Showtime. Next up, you can see him in the upcoming films Asteroid City, Argylle, and Jerry and Marge Go Large, according to his IMDb page.

The actors Vince Gilligan wanted

While looking back at the show, Gilligan revealed the actors he wished he would’ve been able to cast. In a 2018 interview, he shared his admiration for Samuel L. Jackson, explaining he didn’t realize how big of a fan the actor was of the show.

“When we were about halfway through the show, I wish I had known just how much Sam Jackson loved Breaking Bad,” Gilligan recalled. “I find this out after it ended. When I met him, Sam Jackson said, ‘I just wanted to come in and order chicken from Gus Fring! I would have done that!’ I said, ‘Holy s**t! I wish I had known that!'”

Other actors Gilligan would’ve snatched up if he could include Robin Williams and Clint Eastwood.

The Seinfeld connection

Seinfeld may be the greatest comedy of all-time and Breaking Bad may be the best drama of all-time and three of our favorite characters from Breaking Bad have connections to the show and guest starred on Seinfeld.

Bryan Cranston appeared in a few episodes as Dr. Tim Whatley, a dentist who offends Jerry as a comedian when he starts telling Jewish jokes.

Anna Gunn played Seinfeld’s girlfriend in “The Glasses” episode when he thinks she’s cheating on him. And Bob Odenkirk played Elaine’s boyfriend who was studying to be a doctor.

Walt and Jesse episodes

Walter and Jesse are the only two characters to appear in all 62 episodes of the show. Despite Skyler, Hank, Marie and Walter Jr. being listed as appearing in 62 episodes, Walter and Jesse are the only two stars to actually appear on screen for each episode.

The character to appear in the most episodes outside of the five family members and Jesse? None other than your favorite attorney, Saul Goodman.

The sequel was pretty well-regarded

Of course, when a show this popular ends, studios and fans are eager to see what could come next. It was no surprise when it was announced that a sequel film following Jesse was in the works. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie debuted in 2019 on Netflix, and it received generally good reviews.

Though some believed El Camino was just a drawn-out, unnecessary story for Jesse, the majority really loved it. The film has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 81% in audience score. At the time of its release, The Guardian said the movie was able to give fans “closure.”

AMC didn’t want Bryan Cranston

It is hard to fathom anyone other than Bryan Cranston playing the role of Walter White and we have John Cusack and Matthew Broderick to thank for that.

That’s because Sony and AMC didn’t want him because of his comedic background and preferred Cusack and Broderick. Can you imagine Ferris Bueller as Walter White?!

I sure can’t and thankfully Broderick and Cusack both declined the offer so Vince Gilligan could hire the guy he wanted all along. I just can’t see Cusack or Broderick delivering “I am the one who knocks” with the same authority. That would have been comical.

Walter White is real

Walter White was the fictional character played so brilliantly by Bryan Cranston but there is a very real life version of Walter White that was one of the most prolific meth cooks in Alabama.

For 10 years he cooked the purest meth and he says people still talk about it but unlike the TV version, his meth wasn’t blue and he never met his distributor. Like his TV counterpart, he did become distant with his wife who divorced him and his two children whose relationships became distant and strained.

The real life White was arrested in 2008 for trafficking methamphetamine, unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of precursor materials. His partner was sentenced to two life sentences.

Jesse was supposed to die

Think how different the show would be if it didn’t have one of the greatest supporting characters in television history. That’s what almost happened when Jesse Pinkman was supposed to be killed at the end of the first season.

What saved him?

The writer’s strike and Aaron Paul’s performance was so good that Vince Gilligan and his staff decided to keep him on the show. The rest is history as Paul won the Emmy for best supporting actor in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and was nominated in 2009 and 2013.

The Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, returns for its sixth season on April 18, 2022. The season will be split up into two parts, and it’ll mark the end of the series.