Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead don't have a lot in common story-wise, but a few clues indicate the two shows might share the same universe. Breaking Bad follows a school teacher's descent into evil after discovering his talent for cooking meth, while The Walking Dead explores the drama of Rick Grimes and the search for his family after he wakes up in a world desolated by a zombie apocalypse. Although Breaking Bad ended in 2013 and The Walking Dead aired its final episode in 2022, both shows were released by AMC and were the biggest hits of the moment when they aired simultaneously.
There is no solid evidence for the idea that Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead have a shared universe, but the theory has only become stronger throughout the years, with many of the shows' producers jumping on the bandwagon and confirming hidden references spotted in both TV shows. What could perhaps be just the recycling of equipment used in Breaking Bad only grew stronger as a fan theory, which can get quite convincing once viewers stretch their imagination enough.
The Blue Meth
Breaking Bad is a show filled with symbolism that could have totally different meanings in other productions, but "Blue Sky" is something that belongs entirely to Walter White's journey. In the show, Walter pulls off a 99.1 percent pure form of crystal meth, easily distinguishable for its vivid blue color, which represents its high purity.
In The Walking Dead season 2, episode 2, "Bloodletting," Daryl Dixon is seen holding a bag full of medicine, including a familiar blue substance. When Daryl refers to it as "crystal," it becomes clear what the showrunners were aiming at. Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead's comics and one of the show's producers, mentioned the reference to Walter White's complex chemical compounds as "a little Easter egg we were doing for AMC fans" (via The New York Times).
Negro Y Azul Song
Breaking Bad season 2, episode 7, "Negro y Azul," has one of the funniest cold opens of the show, featuring a music video for a fictional song called "Negro y Azul: The Ballad of Heisenberg," which recounts the story of Walter White's evil alter ego and his business. The song was specifically created for Breaking Bad, and the lyrics mention in detail the rise of Heisenberg's drug empire and his distinctive blue drug.
The spinoff series Fear The Walking Dead is one of the most successful productions in The Walking Dead's universe timeline, also broadcast by AMC network, and it featured "Negro y Azul: The Ballad of Heisenberg" in season 3, episode 10, "The Divinier." When the characters Madison and Taqa enter a buzzy market, Heiseinberg's song can clearly be heard playing throughout the place.
Gus Fring Could Be The First Zombie
While many of the clues about the Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead shared universe rely on small details hidden by the shows' producers, fans took the liberty of stretching out the theory to questionable but fun extremes. For example, the theory connects Gus Fring's death to The Walking Dead's zombie virus. Fring was a terrifying villain who only died because he underestimated Walter White's capacity to play the same deadly game as him. Fring's death is far from realistic, but it remains the most iconic moment of Breaking Bad season 4.
After Gus finds himself in a trap and falls victim to a pipe bomb explosion, he slowly walks out of the room, half his body destroyed by the explosion, and he fixes up his tie before falling to the ground. Fans believe that Gus's death suggests he could have been the first zombie of The Walking Dead's outbreak, indicating a shared universe and a perfect tie-in to both show's main storylines. According to the theory, the zombie apocalypse was caused by Heisenberg's blue meth or by the failed attempts to recreate his recipe.
Producers of both shows love the theory, including Robert Kirkman, who was never really interested in explaining the cause of The Walking Dead's outbreak in the comics but energetically said, "That's canon; that's confirmed," regarding the blue meth theory (via Digital Spy). Fans took his statement seriously and came up with a theory that Gus Fring was the first to take the meth's infected batch, which explains why he walks out of the room half-dead: he became a walker right there.
Gale's Coffee Machine
One interesting character introduced in Breaking Bad season 3 was Gale, a young genius whose intelligence and scientific talent could be compared to Walter White, which led him to his doom. Besides cooking one of the purest meths in the show, Gale also knew how to brew coffee like no one else: he invented a huge, intricate coffee machine that took up half the lab but brewed the perfect cup of coffee in return.
The Governor was The Walking Dead's smartest villain, and Gale's coffee machine can be spotted in his lab in season 3, episode 3, "Walk With Me," when he and his allies team up for a meeting. This Easter egg could indicate that The Walking Dead's art direction team was recycling some of their network's material, but it could also suggest that the Governor had access to Gale's inventions, or maybe they were friends. The only thing that is certain is that Governor drank the most perfectly brewed coffee in the zombie apocalypse.
Lydia, Oh Lydia Ringtone
The Walking Dead's references to Breaking Bad's universe continued long after the latter show ended. The Walking Dead season 9 explores the origins of the show's villain, Alpha, whose daughter is named Lydia. In episode 10, "Omega," Lydia's parents are seen singing the lyrics of the song "Lydia The Tattooed Lady," the precise words of which also featured in Todd's ringtone in the Breaking Bad series finale: "Lydia, oh! Lydia, say have you met Lydia, oh! Lydia the tattooed lady."
In both shows, the song works as a solid metaphor for the end of the world: while The Walking Dead takes it literally by jumping back to the present world, where zombies took over the planet and not every human is an ally, in Breaking Bad the song is part of Walter White's downfall, playing right after he sees Jesse Pinkman for the last time and prepares to die, surrounded by the lifeless bodies of his enemies.