Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has given his thoughts about a possible movie follow-up to the legendary AMC series, saying he hopes the film will give Walter White's unfortunate protégé Jesse Pinkman a chance to find happiness. Indeed, if Breaking Bad the movie does happen, the story will reportedly revolve around Aaron Paul's Pinkman, whose fate was left undetermined in the series' gripping finale.
Paul's portrayal of Pinkman, the former student of Walter White who was roped into becoming White's accomplice as he built his meth empire, won the actor a pair of Emmys for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In truth, series creator Vince Gilligan meant to kill off Pinkman in the first season, but later changed his mind and let the character live on. Ultimately, Pinkman became less White's partner and more his victim, as White turned to increasingly devious and dangerous plans in order to maintain his status as a drug kingpin.
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Indeed, Pinkman's relationship with White finally left him with more sorrow than joy, though in the end White did sacrifice himself in order to let Pinkman escape and try to make a new life for himself far from Albuquerque. Speaking to IndieWire, Cranston talked about his hopes for his former TV surrogate son Pinkman as the character is set to return for the Breaking Bad movie follow-up that is reported to already be underway. Calling Pinkman an "innocent bystander" to Walter's criminality, Cranston said he hopes the new movie gives Jesse a chance to finally grow as a person and discover true happiness:
“I would like to see - and again I have no idea if this is what [Vince is] thinking about - I would like to see [Jesse] struggle to break that mold and eventually break out and find his own real true calling. Something that empowered him as a human being, that is on the straight and narrow, that allows him to be able to open up, to let another human being into his life. And be happy. ‘Cause I don’t sense that he was really ever happy.”
In the same interview, Cranston re-iterated that he hasn't seen a script for Breaking Bad the movie and doesn't know if his character is even included. Walter White of course died in the final episode of the series, and could only return for the movie in flashbacks. Cranston also said that, in the end, Walter White got what was coming to him because "he was the person that brought upon all this disaster and decay." White of course was directly responsible for the most horrible episode of Jesse's life, when he stood by and allowed Jesse's girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter) to choke to death as she overdosed on heroin. White's manipulations of Jesse only became more devious as the show progressed, until he finally forced Jesse to sell his soul entirely by murdering rival meth cook Gale Boetticher (David Costabile).
Certainly, White received a measure of redemption when he went in to free Jesse from his captors in the series' final episode, an act that led to White's own death. But it's also true that, had White not insisted on ensnaring Jesse in his web, Pinkman never would have found himself that situation to begin with. Most Breaking Bad fans certainly share Cranston's wish that, if the movie is happening, it will see Pinkman get the happy ending he deserves after being Walter's flunky/abuse victim for five heartrending seasons.
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Source: IndieWire