Breaking Bad Creator Confesses Show's Iconic Finale Was Basically Winged After His Mistake
His desire to start the final season on a memorable note created a massive problem, as they didn't know what to do until the very last moment.
Breaking Bad is often hailed as one of, if not the greatest television series of all time, thanks to how consistently great it was throughout its entire five-season run, with little to no bad or even underwhelming episodes.
The show's finale provided a heartbreaking yet strangely satisfying conclusion to Walter White's story, as few fans expected things to end well for him after all he had done.
Considering how poetic and logical it was, it is baffling that the ending was practically winged after the show's creator, Vince Gilligan, did one of the "dumbest things" of his entire career.
In an interview with Variety, Gilligan confessed that his own hubris played a cruel joke on him, as after deciding to open the final season with a thrilling scene of Walt buying a machine gun, he had no idea what to do next.
With only six episodes left before the show's finale, there was still no progress, and Vince even thought of dropping the machine gun from the story altogether, but was convinced by other writers not to.
Gilligan said it was "astounding how little they knew" about what they were doing as they spent full days in the writing room while time was running out.
Eventually, he and the writing team came up with a great idea to wrap things up nicely and deliver an outstanding finale that fans still remember a decade after the show ended.
Nevertheless, Gilligan finds the whole experience quite haunting, as his recklessness almost led to disaster if they hadn't come up with a solution at the very last moment.
Vince wants his revelation to serve as a warning to anyone who sees themselves as a showrunner to avoid making the same mistake he did and a similar "painful and scary" experience.
Source: Variety