Knock knock. Who’s knocking? Oh it’s Bryan Cranston aka Walter White.
He’d like to remind us that even the best stories come to an end, but they never die.
And our favourite actors will always be there for us. They’ll always be… Wait, but where
are they now? Raising their kids? Threading political waters? Starring in other shows?
Wondering what the universally-praised Breaking Bad cast members are up to today, six years
after the finale had aired? Subscribe to RumourJuice, and we’ll gladly tell you!
First of all, if you’ve run out of Breaking Bad vibes…
It’s all good, man. Better Call Saul, a prequel and spin-off of
Breaking Bad, is currently in its fifth season. Created by the same minds that gave us Breaking
Bad, Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk as the slippery lawyer Saul Goodman who worked
for Walter White and Pinkman. For his performance in the stand-alone series,
Odenkirk received a bunch of prestigious Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.
Odenkirk already was a well-known actor before shooting to true fame with Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul. We could glimpse him in How I Met Your Mother and The Office.
Did you know that he used to write for Saturday Night Live and won an Emmy for Outstanding
Writing? Most recently, we saw him in the star-studded
adaptation of Little Women as the titular family’s ailing father.
Odenkirk remains loyal to the format of TV series. He’s been on Fargo and The Kominsky
Method. In a few years, the actor will celebrate his
25th wedding anniversary with his wife Naomi. The couple have two children.
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan had high hopes for Better Call Saul. Witnessing the
latter’s success, he felt encouraged to work on El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, an
epilogue to the original series. Actor Aaron Paul, who played Walt's right-hand man Jesse
Pinkman, agreed to play the character one last time. After all, the eager fans were
constantly asking him about Jesse’s fate. When we first see him on Breaking Bad, Jesse
is trying to escape through an upstairs window of a house, fumbling with his pants, and eventually,
he falls down the roof. It’s been a rollercoaster ever since, and for his performance, Aaron
Paul won three Emmys. We can watch him in the third season of HBO’s
ambitious sci-fi western series, Westworld. Paul has done some pretty neat voice work
as well! We knew that Todd Chavez in Netflix’s animated series BoJack Horseman sounded familiar.
Aaron Paul married his girlfriend Lauren in 2013. They are parents to a baby girl with
a wonderfully-sounding name, Story Annabelle.
Jesse Pinkman’s love life, however, was way more tragic on Breaking Bad. He fell in
love with his landlord Jane, and she turned out to be a drug addict, and, well, it all
ended painfully. We can take solace in the fact that Jane’s
actress, Krysten Ritter, famously went on to portray superhero Jessica Jones on the
Netflix drama series of the same name, and the miniseries The Defenders. Her acting skills
- yes, that was her in the hilarious sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 - aren’t
Ritter’s only strength. She absolutely loves knitting! No joke, her hobby landed her on
a cover of Vogue Knitting. Ritter also wrote, produced, and starred in
the 2011 comedy L!fe Happens, and is an author of a psychological thriller Bonfire. She has
a son with her boyfriend, musician Adam. You go, Krysten!
A bit of a shocker, but Vince Gilligan’s original plan was to kill Jesse Pinkman off
way back in the first season. Luckily, the easy-flowing chemistry between Aaron Paul
and Bryan Cranston made him reconsider. Jesse and Walter formed a unique bond as TV show
characters; and so did the actors. On their last day of filming, Paul and Cranston both
got Breaking Bad-themed tattoos. Paul has the phrase "No half measures" on his bicep,
while Cranston got the show's logo on one of his fingers. Oh, and none other than Bryan
Cranston served as a groomsman at Aaron Paul’s wedding!
From the endearing but immature dad in Malcolm in the Middle to the imposing and terrorizing
Walter White aka Heisenberg, Bryan Cranston knows it all about acting. After all, he met
and fell in love with his second wife, Robin, while filming action military TV series Airwolf.
She played a hostage… and he played the villain who held her at gunpoint.
Thanks to Walter White, Cranston won four Emmys, a Golden Globe, our hearts, and solidified
his position in Hollywood as one of the most sought-after actors. He’s been on multiple
TV shows, like Sneaky Pete, Robot Chicken, and Family Guy. When we turn to blockbuster
movies, Cranston is there, too. He's had roles in The Lincoln Lawyer, Drive, Contagion, Total
Recall, Argo, Power Rangers, and Godzilla. He’s been successful on stage, too, earning
awards for his performances in plays All The Way and Network.
What can we say, we love Bryan Cranston! And Bryan Cranston loves… baseball. He used
to play the sports as a student, and now is an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. As
he accepted his third Primetime Emmy Award, Cranston thanked his wife and daughter and
told them he loved them “more than baseball”. By the way, the two main ladies of Cranston’s
life had roles in Breaking Bad! Did you spot them?
Breaking Bad wouldn’t be the Breaking Bad we all adore without Anna Gunn’s Skyler
White. The fans hated Walter White’s wife and mom of his two children for being probably
the most divisive character in the entire series. At the same time, Gunn’s performance
was universally praised. Skyler was her breakout role, for which she
won two Emmy Awards in the outstanding supporting drama actress category. Anna also starred
opposite Tom Hanks as his wife in Sully, the biographical drama directed by Clint Eastwood.
Gunn has showcased her acting chops in Gracepoint, the US adaptation of the British series Broadchurch.
Most recently, she appeared in HBO's Deadwood movie. The actress and her ex-husband, real
estate broker and actor Alastair Duncan, have two daughters.
Another unforgettable Breaking Bad character is Walter White Jr., brought to life by RJ
Mitte. Like Walter’s son, Mitte has cerebral palsy in real life, too. The guy was just
15 years old when he was cast in the series. The diagnosis hasn’t slowed down Mitte’s
career. He’s been everywhere from Switched at Birth and Now Apocalypse on TV, to Robot
Chicken. You can spot him in music videos for Hollywood Undead, Steel Panther, Nothing
but Thieves, and 3 Doors Down. In 2016, Mitte was part of Channel 4’s coverage of the
Rio Paralympic Games.
It’s thrilling to watch the constant shift of dynamic in the White’s household. Especially
when we take into account the extended family and add Skyler’s sister, Marie, and Marie’s
husband, Hank, into the mix. Marie Schrader is portrayed by Betsy Brandt.
Since her Breaking Bad days, the actress went on to star in several TV shows and a couple
of independent films. But Betsy remembers her time on BB with fondness. She even decided
to pursue roles in comedy shows because she was certain there may never be another drama
that could compare to AMC’s super hit. Anna Gunn and Betsy Brandt were great as sisters.
But the connection Marie had with her husband Hank was on another level. Brandt and actor
Dean Norris play spouses so well thanks to their mutual respect for each other. Betsy
once said: “Hank Schrader is a really good guy — and so is Dean Norris. I told him
one day, ‘If I didn’t know how smart and good you are as a human, you would scare
the s— out of me.’ “ Norris took it as a compliment.
When the show ended, Norris didn’t entirely retire as Walter’s anti-drugs officer brother-in-law.
He’s still Hank on Better Call Saul. But the actor’s had plenty of work on other
projects, too. You may recognize him from Stephen King’s Under the Dome TV series,
Claws, The Big Bang Theory, and Scandal, to name a few titles.
Norris and his wife, Bridget, a former entertainment attorney, have five kids. Their youngest son
was born in 2009; the boy’s middle name is Vincent as in, Vince Gilligan, BB’s creator
and executive producer. Oh, and remember Hank’s famous home brewed
craft beer? In 2019, Norris helped launch a real-life product, Schraderbrau.
Ever wondered what Gus has been up to these days? Well, Giancarlo Esposito has reprised
his BB role in Better Call Saul, like many of his castmates. It was the role of a polite
and terrifying meth distributor that projected Esposito to fame. But he had been in the acting
business for decades before Breaking Bad, and has no trouble finding work today.
He’s been everywhere from The Get Down to Disney+ widely talked-about The Mandalorian.
You know, the one with Baby Yoda? Esposito’s kids even had to call him to specifically
warn him: “Hey, Papa, please don’t hurt that baby.”
Esposito had a voice role in The Jungle Book, and if you are wondering where else you might
have heard him, he’s the narrator on Dear White People.
Jesse Plemons is unforgettable on Breaking Bad as the sociopathic Todd Alquist. The show’s
fans nicknamed him Meth Damon to stress his resemblance to actor Matt Damon. Many also
note his likeness to the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. And now, the punch-line!
When he was 12, Plemons played the younger version of Matt Damon’s character in the
2000 movie, All the Pretty Horses; and he played Hoffman's son in the film The Master.
Quite the combo! Apart from Breaking Bad, Plemons is known for his roles in Black Mass,
Bridge of Spies, Game Night, The Irishman. In 2015, the actor starred in the second season
Fargo, where he met and fell in love with co-star Kirsten Dunst. The two are parents
to son Ennis Howard.
Steven Michael Quezada gets an honourable mention as Steven Gomez, Hank’s partner
at the DEA. Quezada has had several movie roles since Breaking Bad and guest-starred
on Better Call Saul. What makes it even more interesting, he’s been combining acting
with a career in politics and being a father of four.
Numerous times, Breaking Bad was voted The Greatest TV Show Ever made, written, filmed,
acted, and so on. Its legacy lives on. We can do as many Breaking Bad rewatch marathons
as we like, whenever. And now, share with us in the comments section
below: Which Breaking Bad episode is your favourite, which character - and why?