Spoiler alert: Walter White (Bryan Cranston) dies at the end of “Breaking Bad.” But that wasn’t always the plan for the chemistry teacher-turned-drug kingpin. The AMC series is widely regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time, largely because of Walt’s transformation from a desperate man trying to provide for his family, into a twisted villain whose ego and greed overtakes any semblance of the person he used to be.
Ultimately, Walter White dies following a firefight with a group of neo-Nazis. But creator Vince Gilligan told Entertainment Weekly that the writers “didn’t feel an absolute need for Walt to expire at the end of the show,” which is why they initially came up with other ways to finish the beloved TV crime drama. “There was a version we kicked around where Walt is the only one who survives, and he’s standing among the wreckage and his whole family is destroyed,” he said. “That would be a very powerful ending but very much a kick-in-the-teeth kind of ending for the viewers.” Gilligan noted, “We talked about a version where Jesse kills Walt. We talked about a version where Walt more or less gets away with it.”
Jesse Pinkman killed Walter White in an alternate Breaking Bad ending
Once the writers room had decided that Walter White needed to die at the end of “Breaking Bad,” the big question was how it should happen. One alternate ending to the series would’ve seen Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) execute his former partner and mentor. “We talked about Jesse taking Walt up on his offer to kill him or Walt turning around to find Jesse had a gun on him. We talked about every permutation we could conceive of,” Vince Gilligan explained. Since Jesse already kills Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemmons) in the finale, however, the writers didn’t feel it was necessary for Jesse to kill Walt, too.
Gilligan pointed out that Todd and the rest of the neo-Nazis had to go, but Jesse Pinkman specifically chooses not to kill Walter White while holding him at gunpoint. During their final confrontation, Jesse realizes that Walt wants to die, but he is already bleeding out following the shoot-out. Instead of giving in and getting his own revenge on Walt, Jesse leaves him to die alone. He added: “He’s just not going to make Walt happy anymore. It’s not about, ‘I’m not still angry enough to murder you.’ Rather, it’s, ‘You want this, and therefore I’m not giving it to you.'”
