Bryan Cranston Reveals the One Condition for Walter White’s Return
Prestige TV keeps churning out juggernauts from Game of Thrones to The Walking Dead spinoffs, but one series still towers above the rest: Breaking Bad. Driven by Bryan Cranston’s career-defining turn, it set a bar the small screen has chased ever since.
Every week there is another Thrones prequel or Walking Dead offshoot in the news, but somehow we end up circling back to one guy: Walter White. Bryan Cranston just addressed whether he would ever shave the head again, and creator Vince Gilligan is out there teasing the broader universe while launching his new Apple TV series. So yeah, a lot going on in Albuquerque-adjacent land.
Cranston on playing Walter White again
In a new chat with The Times, Cranston called Walter White the role that changed his life — the same way he framed it in his memoir, 'A Life in Parts.' When pressed on a comeback, he waffled at first, then got specific about what it would take.
'I'm not closed to it, but it has to be something that makes me go, "Oh my, what a great idea." Otherwise we'll let him go so that we can move on, all of us.'
In other words: not a hard no, but he's not signing on for a nostalgia lap either. There would have to be a killer idea, not just a cameo-for-cameo's-sake.
Where we last saw Walt (and Jesse) after Breaking Bad
- Better Call Saul: Walt popped up during the final season of the 2015 spin-off, alongside Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman.
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie: Cranston returned for a flashback that tied into Jesse's story.
- Super Bowl 2023: Cranston and Paul reunited as Walt and Jesse in a PopCorners ad, with Raymond Cruz back as Tuco Salamanca. Yes, that actually happened.
Could the universe expand again?
Gilligan has said there are ways to reboot Breaking Bad and even build shows around Better Call Saul characters. Around the rollout of his new Apple TV series, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he was lucky to work with an absurdly strong ensemble across Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino, and that many of the major players could carry their own shows. He even name-checked Scott MacArthur and Scott Shepherd, and gave Jesse Plemons the 'rocketed to the moon and deserved it' treatment. Translation: if they want to spin something off, the bench is deep.
And just to remind you how outsized Breaking Bad still looms: it sits at 9.5/10 on IMDb and 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. For context, Game of Thrones clocks a 9.2/10 on IMDb and 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Make of that what you will.
About Gilligan's new Apple TV series
In the meantime, Gilligan's busy with 'Pluribus,' a sci-fi drama for Apple TV. The premise is... delightfully odd: the official logline says the most miserable person on Earth has to save the world from happiness. It's set in Albuquerque and follows Carol Sturka, who is immune to an undefined virus. The cast includes Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vega, Miriam Shor, and Samba Schutte. 'Pluribus' is set to premiere November 7 on Apple TV.
So where does that leave us? Cranston is open to a brilliant Walter White idea, Gilligan thinks multiple alumni could headline their own shows, and the creator is launching a new series with a pitch that sounds like a Black Mirror fever dream. If Walt stays retired, there are still plenty of ways back into this world.
Would you want Cranston back, or should Walter stay gone? Either way, you can watch Gilligan's next move on Apple TV November 7. And if you feel like a rewatch, Breaking Bad is available to stream on Apple TV.