How Vince Gilligan Really Feels About Walt Years After Breaking Bad’s Ending

While the “Breaking Bad” creator once thought Walter White’s story ended as a victory for the character, he doesn’t feel that way anymore. Gilligan previously cited the ending as triumphant because the character died on his terms while securing a comfortable future for his family. 

However, with every year that passes since the finale of “Breaking Bad,” Gilligan seemingly has less sympathy for his main character. The writer focuses on the fact that, if he had been a better person, Walter could have easily taken the money his former friends and partners offered him, treated his cancer, and lived a normal life. Not only did Walter reject the money, but the result was a long line of death and destruction. “He goes out on his own terms, but he leaves a trail of destruction behind him,” Gilligan said in an interview with The New Yorker. “I focus on that more than I used to.”

Gilligan later doubled down on this sentiment, even going so far as to say “Breaking Bad” was rigged for viewers to side with Walt over his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). He says that the extreme dislike toward Skyler was misplaced and should have gone toward Walter. 

“Like, wait a minute, why was this guy so great?” Gilligan said. “He was really sanctimonious, and he was really full of himself. He had an ego the size of California. And he always saw himself as a victim. He was constantly griping about how the world shortchanged him, how his brilliance was never given its due. When you take all of that into consideration, you wind up saying, ‘Why was I rooting for this guy?’”