No matter how great a show is, people will always bitch about the series finales even that's the only way the series could possibly end (see: The Sopranos, Lost, The Shield). That's not happening with Breaking Bad, of course, because DAMN. Nailed it. But the near perfect ending (like, uhhhh, why didn't the Nazis check the trunk?) we all saw Sunday night was almost very, very different. Vince Gilligan tells The Hollywood Reporter:
"We had versions we talked about, where the police were coming to get him and he uses it on the police. But we didn't like that; it didn't seem right," Gilligan said. "We had a version where he goes and breaks Jesse out of jail just as the Nazis were going to knock Jesse off in jail. And he comes in and uses the M60 to lay waste to an entire prison or prison bus." They imagined it could look like the classic scene from The Terminator, only it'd be Walter White walking in and shooting up a police station, not Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800. Gilligan said they didn't necessarily get far with those ideas, but that he and the writers would "talk them through for hours on end." "As bad as Walt is, we don't want to see him killing good guys. If he's going to use this M60, even if it's slightly less surprising, let's see him use it on guys even worse than he is," Gilligan explained. Last year's season-five premiere also showed Walt having New Hampshire license plates and drivers license, but the writers didn't exactly know what that would mean later. "We talked about him having a new wife. We had a new job. We talked about him teaching at some sort of learning annex type of place, teaching chemistry," Gilligan said. "We had a scene where he made peanut brittle …. and you can tell by the exactness which with he goes about cooking that he misses the cooking of the meth." They also talked about having Skyler kill herself and, in an alternate idea, having Skyler go along with Walt and the Disappearer. However, they couldn't figure out a way for Walt Jr. to go along with that plan.
Look, Walt Jr. would have gone along with any plan if you told him it included unlimited breakfast food. That wouldn't have been a problem. And if you told him they made cereal that tastes like bacon he would have changed his name to Kony Cruz Jodiarias Dahmer.
Breaking Bad Cast
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Actors Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul arrive as AMC Celebrates the final episodes of "Breaking Bad" at Sony Pictures Studios
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
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Actress Anna Gunn poses in the press room at the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre
(Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
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Actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul attend the premiere of AMC's "Breaking Bad" at Mann's 6 Theatre
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Bryan Cranston (L) and Aaron Paul pose in the press room with their awards for 'Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series' and 'Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series' for 'Breaking Bad' at the 62nd Primetime Emmy
(Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)
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Actress Anna Gunn and actors Giancarlo Esposito, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul attend the AMC's Premiere of "Breaking Bad" Season Four
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Actors Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston arrive as AMC Celebrates the final episodes of "Breaking Bad" at Sony Pictures Studios
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
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Actors Giancarlo Esposito and Anna Gunn attend AMC's "Breaking Bad" Season 4 Premiere After Party
(Photo by Jesse Grant/WireImage)
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Actors Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston speak at AMC's "Breaking Bad" Panel during Comic-Con International 2012 at San Diego Convention
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
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Actors Betsy Brandt, Jonathan Banks, RJ Mitte, Anna Gunn, Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, Emily Rios, (Front) Aaron Paul and Bob Odenkirk attend AMC's "Breaking Bad"
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
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Actor Jesse Plemons arrives as AMC Celebrates the final episodes of "Breaking Bad" at Sony Pictures Studios
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
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Actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul arrive as AMC Celebrates the final episodes of "Breaking Bad" at Sony Pictures Studios
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
