# Bryan Cranston: 'Never say never' to more Breaking Bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628 "2014-05-30T12:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/21 "2014-05-31T10:37:36Z")
I don’t think they could successfully continue the series. It reached its logical conclusion, it would strain credulity to keep Walt alive, and the show doesn’t really have much of a direction to go in without Walt at the center. All the characters pretty much reached the end of their arcs and would have to start new ones in any kind of sequel. That being said, it might be possible to continue the show in a much weirder direction. Throughout the series Walt has always held an extremely high view of himself, always seeing himself as the brilliant man criminally under appreciated by the people around him. How about a season showing the world as Walt imagines it? A season where Walt miraculously survives the shootout and goes on to be the badass he imagines himself to be while fixing everything that’s gone wrong. Everyone who’s ever opposed him becomes the sneering villains he imagines them to be, his family comes to adore him for all his ‘self-sacrifice’ to provide for them, and Jesse aspires to follow in his footsteps. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be an ‘everything is in Walt’s mind’ thing, but taking the fantasy Walt’s always chased and putting it on the screen. Just a random thought. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/22 "2014-05-31T14:50:37Z")
I could see doing prequels about some of the other characters, but that could be done in _Better Call Saul_. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/23 "2014-07-12T11:30:06Z")
I did think at the time that it was premature to assume Walt was dead, given that the emergency vehicles were arriving as we saw him smiling, apparently still alive. But in regards to _Better Call Saul_: in the process of reading about the spinoff, I heard for the first time about an X-Files spinoff Vince Gilligan worked on called \*The Lone Gunman. \* Curious, I checked Wikipedia, and found this bizarre fact: > [@](#): > > The plot of the first episode, which aired March 4, 2001, involves a US government conspiracy to hijack an airliner, fly it into the World Trade Center and blame it on terrorists, thereby gaining support for a new profit-making war. Jesus. Why have I never heard about this before? ETA: According to a review on Netflix, the flight in question even originated from Boston! So bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/24 "2014-07-12T12:15:00Z")
Well. So much for the one-year spoiler rule. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/25 "2014-07-12T13:03:12Z")
Wow, sorry…I’m not a fan of spoiling people, but I kinda thought a thread like this would be something people would stay away from if they haven’t finished the show yet. I am still not done with _The Wire_, for instance, and I wouldn’t enter a thread that talked about a possibility of “never say never” about doing a movie or something to pick up wherever that show leaves (left) off in the finale. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/26 "2014-07-12T14:30:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Wow, sorry…I’m not a fan of spoiling people, but I kinda thought a thread like this would be something people would stay away from if they haven’t finished the show yet. I am still not done with _The Wire_, for instance, and I wouldn’t enter a thread that talked about a possibility of “never say never” about doing a movie or something to pick up wherever that show leaves (left) off in the finale. Not you! The thread title itself. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/27 "2014-07-12T21:06:42Z")
Oh ok. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/28 "2014-07-12T21:48:23Z")
‘Better Call Saul’ Will Be Set in 2002, Vince Gilligan Says > **[‘Better Call Saul’ Will Be Set in 2002, Vince Gilligan Says](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/news/better-call-saul-set-2002-vince-gilligan-says-005300662.html)** > > The “Breaking Bad” prequel “Better Call Saul” will be set in “about the year 2002,” executive producer Vince Gilligan told reporters Friday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “We tried hard on ‘Breaking Bad’ to not be too... ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/29 "2014-07-12T22:05:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > They Saved Heisenberg’s Brain? Yep. Except no one knows exactly where it is. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/30 "2014-07-18T12:50:05Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Not you! The thread title itself. Is it really a spoiler? If anything that title implies that Walt didn’t die at the end, when clearly the impression, and likely the intent, was that he did. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/31 "2014-07-18T14:32:26Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Not you! The thread title itself. 😕 Just \*\*what \*\*does the title of the thread spoil? That the show ended? Did you somehow think it was still running? Look, I hate spoilers probably more than most people, but geez. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/32 "2014-07-18T14:46:07Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Is it really a spoiler? If anything that title implies that Walt didn’t die at the end, when clearly the impression, and likely the intent, was that he did. Agreed. **Maserschmidt** , could you please explain why you thought there was a spoiler in the title? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/33 "2014-07-18T23:37:14Z")
They could always do something like the proposed sequel to Gladiator: Walter White is reincarnated throughout time to supply history’s brightest lights with methy goodness. You really don’t want to know what history was like before Heisenberg entered the timeline. ---
**Author:** ![candide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@candide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/candide)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/34 "2014-07-19T00:25:21Z")
How about a situation six or eight years from now when Aaron Paul is in his mid, late 30s and Jesse’s money is gone? Maybe he would turn back to life of crime and in that life he might channel Walt from the dead. It could be handled in a manner similar to the way Nathaniel, Sr. was handled in “Six Feet Under.” What would be cool is if the Jesse character channeled not only Walt, but Mike, too. One of the great decisions the writers and producers made on BB was realizing the value in the Mike. It was clear to me, though, that at the end of the series both Walt and Mike were dead. A new series that wanted to capitalize on those characters would require writers with nimble imaginations. Just because a series is over, just because principal characters died does not mean that they must remain dead. Sherlock Holmes, after all, lived to live again. Fictional people have an uncanny ability of reanimating. By the way, at the end of “The Sopranos,” Tony was killed. He won’t be coming back to life. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/35 "2014-07-19T00:31:11Z")
They’ve been hinting that _Better Call Saul_ will have a “flexible timeline” and may include periods before, during, and after _Breaking Bad_. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628/36 "2014-07-19T09:38:21Z")
> [@candide](#): > > How about a situation six or eight years from now when Aaron Paul is in his mid, late 30s and Jesse’s money is gone? Maybe he would turn back to life of crime and in that life he might channel Walt from the dead. It could be handled in a manner similar to the way Nathaniel, Sr. was handled in “Six Feet Under.” > > What would be cool is if the Jesse character channeled not only Walt, but Mike, too. One of the great decisions the writers and producers made on BB was realizing the value in the Mike. It was clear to me, though, that at the end of the series both Walt and Mike were dead. A new series that wanted to capitalize on those characters would require writers with nimble imaginations. > > Just because a series is over, just because principal characters died does not mean that they must remain dead. Sherlock Holmes, after all, lived to live again. Fictional people have an uncanny ability of reanimating. > > By the way, at the end of “The Sopranos,” Tony was killed. He won’t be coming back to life. Mike is obviously dead. Walt was in rough shape (even if paramedics got to him, he was close to dying of cancer anyway). Tony Soprano? Totally ambiguous. When I saw that finale, I did not take him as being dead whatsoever–didn’t cross my mind. (Nor was I outraged: I thought it was a good ending.) I have however read the extensive argument for that interpretation online, though, and concede it has merit. However, I don’t think it is airtight, nor do I think it was meant to be unambiguous (a split-second frame or two of Tony’s head starting to be blown to bits followed by a fade to black would have accomplished that goal if that’s what Chase intended). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bryan-cranston-never-say-never-to-more-breaking-bad/689628.md?page=1)