Breaking Bad: 36 things you didn't know Breaking Bad: 36 things you didn't know Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in 'Breaking Bad' Credit: AP 1. Walter White is real. Credit: Boston University; WCBV; ABC News; KLTV; Cladwell County Sheriff’s Department While nobody has yet gone ‘full Heisenberg’, Vince Gilligan ’s message about the perils of meth production and distribution apparently failed to reach a handful of hard-up educators. William Duncan, a chemistry teacher from Texas, was arrested for selling home-cooked meth within school grounds; in 2011, 74-year-old mathematics professor Irina Kristy was caught running a meth lab from her Boston home; North Carolina teacher’s assistant and meth chef Marc Hodges was arrested earlier this year after suspiciously purchasing 1,000 cases of matches; and Stephen Doran, a Boston teacher with stage 3 cancer, was found dealing meth and arrested in May. But perhaps the most striking case of life imitating art occurred before Breaking Bad was even on television.

In 2008, an Alabama man (main photo, above) earned a place on the state’s Most Wanted list thanks to his thriving meth business. Admittedly, he was neither a teacher nor a cancer sufferer. But his name? Walter White. 2. And so is Heisenberg. Credit: AP The name Walt gives to his alter ego, “Heisenberg”, is a tip of the hat to Werner Heisenberg, one of the most important physicists of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for developing the theory of quantum mechanics. 3. The cast is full of comedians. Credit: ALAMY "If you can do comedy you can do drama," Vince Gilligan said recently of his approach to casting. "It doesn’t necessarily flow the other way." Consequently, Breaking Bad is packed with funny men – even if they’re not always given the chance to show it.

Bob Odenkirk (Saul) is well known as the co-creator of US TV’s last great sketch series, Mr Show; Bill Burr (Kuby) is a stand-up comic, as are Lavell Crawford (Huell), Steven Michael Quezada (poor Gomie), and Javier Grajeda (Gus Fring’s boss at the cartel, and the man who put a severed head on a tortoise). And before he was a struggling actor, Bryan Cranston spent several months as a floundering comedian. Watch Breaking Bad now on Amazon Prime 4. Gus Fring ended his life as a zombie. For the aptly titled season 4 finale, Face Off, Vince Gilligan sought help from the prosthetic-effects team behind AMC’s zombie series The Walking Dead . Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger made a model of Gustavo Fring’s exploded Evil-Dead-meets-Two-Face head, which was then digitally blended with actor Giancarlo Esposito’s real noggin. According to Gilligan, “ it took months ”.

Gilligan got the idea for Fring's gruesome death from a real grisly ending that happened to a rocket scientist and ritualist called John Whitedale Parsons. Gilligan heard about him in Strange Angel, George Pendle's book. Parsons, who happened to practice black magic and had "some kind of sex cult going in Pasadena", according to Gilligan, "came to an unfortunate end when he was making up a batch of mercury fulminate for a special effects project. "Something went wrong and it blew up in his face. The story is that he survived with part of his face peeled off for several hours before he finally succumbed in the hospital." 5. Wendy the hooker is much healthier than she looks. Credit: AMC She was certainly perky when Jesse was around, but the show’s standout meth addict was never exactly a picture of good health. However, Julia Minesci, the actress who played the role of “Wendy S” from 2008-2010, has run the Hawaii Ironman six times, the Germany Ironman once and“ countless marathons ”. 6. Gale’s complete karaoke video – with Thai subtitles – is on YouTube. 7.

And so is the Jesse Pinkman-directed video for Twaughthammer’s "Fallacies". 8. The White family home is an actual family home. Credit: REX Far from being a drug baron’s digs or even a building dreamt up by Vince Gilligan, Walter White’s house in Breaking Bad has been the real-life home of a woman called Fran since 1973. She admits that “a lot of artistic licence” was taken with the property’s interior by the production designer and that Gilligan originally wanted to cover the pool up. And she doesn’t mind the hundreds of cars that slow down in front of her house every month. 9. Skinny Pete practised very hard for his piano solo. Jesse’s wastrel sidekick gave a virtuoso performance of Bach’s Solfeggietto in the music shop at the beginning of season five. Charles Baker, a decent pianist and the actor who plays Pete, practised the piece for three hours every day for a month before filming. Much to Baker’s chagrin, only the intro made the cut. 10.

Jesse's teeth are Gilligan's only regret The co-creator admits in the official Breaking Bad book that Aaron Paul's teeth were far too nice to be realistic for Jesse Pinkman. "One thing that sort of troubled me, looking back over the entirety of the show: Jesse's teeth were a little too perfect. There were all the beatings he took, and, of course, he was using meth, which is brutal on your teeth. He'd probably have terrible teeth in real life." They didn't get changed because "removing real teeth from actors is a real non-starter", and digitally removing them would have been very expensive. 11. The DEA's ‘Mustache man’ got the part by playing golf with Dean Norris. Credit: AMC One extra has consistently stolen the show in Breaking Bad – the man with the enormous moustache often seen in the background at the DEA offices. Robert Sanchez, the man behind the novelty facial hair, knows actor Steven Michael Quezada (Agent Gomez) through softball and has admitted he got the part after playing golf with Quezada and Dean Norris. The retired fireman also competes in moustache competitions in his free time. 12.

Walt’s Lotto code isn’t a complete dead end. Credit: AMC The coordinates that Walt hid on a Lotto ticket (N 34, 59′, 20″, W 106, 36′, 52), which sadly proved fatal for Hank, don’t actually lead to $80 million in cash, or even a few plastic barrels. Instead, they point straight to Q Studios in Albuquerque, where Breaking Bad (plus Hollywood films such as The Avengers) is shot. 13. The pink teddy bear came before the plane crash Credit: heisenbergchronicles.tumblr.com ( heisenbergchronicles.tumblr.com ) Much like how the second season of Breaking Bad pans out, with ominous glimpses of a floating pink bear and its eyeball leading to a far more sinister conclusion, so emerged the script. Gilligan said that "it took many weeks in the writers' room to come up with the plane crash. We liked the teddy bear floating in a swimming pool and his eyeball's in the skimmer.

We did not know how it got there." Once the bear was there, however, it took some shifting – which is just as well, seeing as prop designer Mark Hanson had to recruit an Albuquerque-based teddy bear artist to satisfy the show's legal department. You can spot a less burned version in the mural painted on Jane's wall. 14. Breaking Bad helps beat addiction. An Albuquerque clinic, the Sage Neuroscience Center, is using the show’s popularity to help get New Mexicans off narcotics. (The state has the highest rate of addiction in the US.) By sharing their stories of addiction, entrants have the chance to win one of two “Breaking Addiction” scholarships, which entitle them to 12 weeks of free rehabilitation treatment worth thousands of dollars. 15. Bryan Cranston was once wanted for murder. In an interview for Marc Maron’s WTF podcast in 2011, the actor reminisced about the time he and his brother worked as waiters in a Florida restaurant where the chef was a tyrant named Peter Wong. “No matter how nice you may have been to him, he hated you,” said Cranston. “He screamed at you ...

(with) a cleaver in his hand.” When the chef was found murdered, the police visited the restaurant and asked if anybody had ever expressed an interest in killing Peter Wong. "Everybody talked about killing Peter Wong," came the reply. "That's all we talked about." Unfortunately, the Cranston brothers had just resigned to ride cross-country on their motorcycles. For a while, they were suspects. 16. Gustavo Fring's restaurant is a real chicken restaurant The cast and crew ended up shooting the Los Pollos Hermanos scenes in and around a real chicken restaurant in Albuquerque, called Twisters. The show's art department painting the fictional 'chicken brothers' logo inside the building. Gilligan said: "I believe [it] stayed up for months on end. For all I know it still might be there to this day – I hope it stays there forever."It is indeed still in place probably because Twisters has become quite the tourist attraction, with photos like this being posted to online reviews site Yelp : 17. The Salamanca Cousins even have terrifying eyelids. Credit: AMC Think the mute assassins who almost got Hank are tough? You have no idea.

Daniel and Luis Moncado, the brothers who played the cousins, have both been in gangs and served time in jail. But Luis goes one better. He has the letters "F U" tattooed on his eyelids, etched there by placing a spoon behind each one. "Your eyelid is so thin the needle will go through and puncture your eye," he said . "You gotta put a spoon." 18. The first role Vince Gilligan wrote for Bryan Cranston was even more demented than Heisenberg. Credit: NETFLIX/FOX Before creating Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan was best known for his work as a writer and producer on the sci-fi series, The X-Files . It was there that his and Bryan Cranston’s paths first crossed, on the Gilligan-written episode Drive. Cranston plays a crazed racist roofer who must drive due west at breakneck speed, or else his head will explode. Gilligan has said he “needed a guy who could be scary and kind of loathsome but at the same time had a deep, resounding humanity.” Sound familiar? 19. Blue meth really is more expensive.

Since the first series of BB, in 2008, copycat drug producers around the US have been adding blue food dye to their crystal meth in an attempt to dupe their customers into thinking it is stronger, like Heisenberg’s product. Possibly for that reason, the cost of blue crystal methamphetamine has been reported to be higher than that of normal, colourless “ice”. 20. ...but not necessarily better. As many chemically minded pedants have pointed out, pure methamphetamine is not blue, but colourless. 21. The Heisenberg Hat originally prevented against sunburn Costume designer Kathleen Detoro admitted that the original reason Cranston started wearing the now-infamous Heisenberg Hat is because he needed to shade his shaved head from the sun. "It became the identifable look for Walt's certain mood", she said. 22. Belize is actually a nice place to visit. Credit: Alamy When Saul suggested to Walt that he send Hank “on a trip to Belize ” like he had done to Mike, everyone understood the euphemism – including the Belize Tourism Board.

So keen were they to show that Belize was, in fact, a wonderful place, with “ great music and friendly people ”, that they extended an open invitation to the cast and crew of the series to take an all-expenses-paid holiday in the Central-American country. 23. Walt and Jesse’s cooking flashback in Ozymandias was the last Breaking Bad scene ever filmed. Shortly afterwards, the cast and crew spent a drunken night in a local bar; Cranston ended up with a tattoo of the show’s logo on his finger, much to his wife’s disgust. 24. Tuco only died because he had to Raymon Cruz, the actor who plays one of Walt and Jesse's first enemies, Tuco, was meant to terrorise them all the way through season two. He met his explosive end in season one because he became a regular on US TV series The Closer, and could no longer appear in Breaking Bad.

When Gilligan realised there was only one way Tuco's story could go, he remembered Mister Roberts, the Henry Fonda movie in which Jack Lemmon's character is "always blowing up nthings on this old navy ship with mercury fulminate." Gilligan explains in Breaking Bad: The Official Book that he was relieved to find out that mercury fulminate "kinda sorta" looked like crystal meth, and with that, one of the formative Heisenberg moments was created. Boom! 25. Seinfeld was a Breaking Bad training school. Several BB cast members had roles on Jerry Seinfeld ’s eponymous sitcom. As stingy dentist Tom Whatley, Bryan Cranston helped popularise the term ‘regifting’; Anna Gunn played Jerry’s supposedly cheating girlfriend in one episode; Bob Odenkirk played Elaine’s sexually frustrated boyfriend; and Jessica Hecht, aka Gray Matter’s Gretchen, appeared twice in two different parts. 26. Walt’s electrical wire trick (sort of) works. It turns out that burning through plastic restraints while tied to a radiator isn’t the only thing live wires are good for.

According to reports from Queensland, the technique popularised by Breaking Bad has been used by Australian inmates to light illicit cigarettes in their cells, causing the loss of some 425 television sets. 27. Tuco's grill is lurking somewhere in a river in Albuquerque Hank keeps Tuco's gold tooth grill, preserved in plastic as a paperweight, on his desk as a trophy, but later throws it in the river as a symbol of his fear. Propmaster Mark Hanson confesses that this was the most challenging prop he had to make – not least because him and his team had to make between 15 and 20 of them to make sure Dean Norris (Hank Schrader) was able to have more than one shot. Many got thrown in, and retrieved, but not all: "We did have people just off camera with hip-waders and nets to try and retrieve the cubes as they were thrown. If memory serves, I think we only lost one cube that day." 28. A 100-year-old cowboy almost starred in Season 3.

One of many discarded Breaking Bad plot lines – among them, Walt opens a pharmacy, Marie and Skyler go on a road trip – involved constant flashbacks to a cowboy in frontier times, which would somehow relate to the main story and star its own self-contained cast. Sadly, the writers couldn’t make it work. 29. Warren Buffett would gladly do business with Walter White. Credit: GETTY The billionaire investor and Breaking Bad fan (above, with Aaron Paul) recently described Walter as a “good businessman”, going on to say that the druglord “would be my guy if I ever have to go toe-to-toe with anyone." 30. Jesse Plemons, aka baby-faced psychopath Todd, has a lovely singing voice. 31. Lydia was almost married to Nicholas Brody. Credit: AMC In the original pilot for Homeland , Jessica Brody – pining wife of kidnapped Marine-turned-terrorist Nicholas – was played by Scottish actress Laura Fraser. When the producers had second thoughts, the pilot was reshot with the – in the words of co-creator Alex Gansa – “more vibrant, more sexual” Morena Baccarin.

Fraser, meanwhile, went on to play Breaking Bad’s squeamish, Louboutin-wearing drug-runner Lydia Rodarte-Quayle. 32. There was no need for Walt to rob that train. Methylamine, the chemical that incited the other Great Train Robbery of our time and led to the killing of Drew Sharp, isn’t really that hard to make . In fact, some chemists have suggested that it could be synthesised in a kitchen sink without too much difficulty. But that would have made terrible television. 33. Thanks to his father, Bryan Cranston will never run out of work. A recent New Yorker profile of Cranston revealed that his estranged father Joe – a one-time actor/director/screenwriter whose career failed to ignite – has written “several” film scripts specifically for his son to star in, including an action caper called G.R.A.B. But it wouldn't neccessarily be the worst thing Cranston has ever made. That would be The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: 34. The science is flawed for a reason.

Because of the fear that some of the series’ millions of viewers may try and use the action as a step-by-step guide to making methamphetamine, the real-life DEA advised Vince Gilligan and his team of writers on what science to include, and what to omit. “If you just simply followed the one synthesis as it's presented,” says the show’s science adviser Donna Nelson , “you wouldn't come out with methamphetamine.” 35. New Mexico is proud of Heisenberg. Credit: REX Breaking Bad was originally meant to be shot in California but the location was ultimately changed to Albuquerque, NM. That change of setting has certainly been a boon for the New Mexico tourism industry. Local businesses have taken advantage of the hit show’s worldwide popularity and cashed in by producing all manner of Breaking Bad-related products. These include: blue-meth candy, blue-meth doughnuts, locally brewed Heisenberg “dark” beer, custom-made Heisenberg Pez dispensers, as well as more traditional trolley and Segway tours. 36. There will never be a bigger Breaking Bad super-fan than Kevin Cordasco.

Last year, Vince Gilligan was contacted by the parents of 16-year-old Kevin Cordasco, who was terminally ill with an aggressive form of cancer and adored the show more than most. “There was something about the Walter White character,” explained his father. “The way he took control of his illness, and his life, that really resonated with Kevin.” Gilligan and the cast visited Kevin at home and in hospital, and during one of these visits he was asked by Gilligan what he felt was missing from the show. “He said, ‘You know what, I want to know more about Gretchen and Elliott,'” Gilligan said recently . “I want to know more about Walt’s backstory with them. I want to know what happened.’” This is how Walter’s former Gray Matter business partners ended up with a pivotal role in the final series. Gilligan even offered to tell him how the show would end; Kevin declined, saying he’d rather find out along with the rest of the world. Kevin Cordasco died soon after, and the ninth episode of season five is dedicated to him.

Breaking Bad: The Official Book, is out now Additional reporting by Matt Lewis Follow Telegraph Entertainment Premium 13 Jan 2017, 1:12pm Aaron Paul: Playing Bad On 'Breaking Bad' | WKMS Aaron Paul: Playing Bad On 'Breaking Bad' By editor • Dec 27, 2011 Related Program: Aaron Paul plays a meth-making drug dealer on the AMC drama Breaking Bad. He also played a recurring character on the HBO series Big Love. Ursula Coyote / AMC / Originally published on December 27, 2011 9:18 am This week on Fresh Air, we're marking the year's end by revisiting some of the most memorable conversations we've had in 2011. This interview was originally broadcast on September 19, 2011 . Vince Gilligan's AMC drama Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston as a high school chemistry teacher named Walter White who turns to dealing drugs after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. White's partner-in-crime throughout the series is his former student Jesse Pinkman, played by actor Aaron Paul.

Paul joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross for a conversation about the show and about playing a meth dealer who frequently finds himself in precarious situations. Over the past four seasons, his character has laundered money, killed one of his meth-making co-workers and taken a lot of punches from other drug dealers. And Paul says some of those punches really hurt. In one take of a fight, "my head actually comes into contact with the opening of a wooden screen door," Paul says. "And I catch it, and my entire body spins around and splits the door into a million pieces and I landed flat on my head and chest. The scene continues to go on because [everyone] thinks I was just acting, but in reality, I was just completely out of it and I don't remember it happening." Paul ended up going to the emergency room and being treated for a concussion after that scene. It also may explain why the next fight scene featuring Paul was shot mainly in shadows, making it difficult to make out the characters. "I think they didn't want that to happen again," he says. "They also didn't want to hurt [the character hitting me]. He was beating a sandbag next to my face so he could actually come into contact with something.

I remember the day of that shoot, we did it so many times that [the actor's] knuckles actually started getting bruised." On Not Getting 'Killed Off' The Show Originally Jesse Pinkman was supposed to be killed off Breaking Bad during the show's first season. Paul says he didn't learn that until series creator Vince Gilligan called him over one day during lunch. "He goes, 'Originally Jesse was supposed to die at the end of this season,' ... and instantly my heart dropped and slowed down a bit," Paul says. "And he said, 'We don't think we're going to do that anymore.' " Gilligan told Paul that he loved the chemistry between Walt and Jesse. "He decided to change the whole dynamic of their relationship and really the whole dynamic of the show," says Paul. "But the entire second season, the entire third season, I thought that Jesse could be a goner at any moment because there's many things that this character could screw up on, and he could definitely meet his deathbed at any moment." Other cast members, including Bryan Cranston, would joke around on set with Paul about his character's potential demise.

"Bryan would come up and give me a hug and say, 'I'm not going to say anything but it was such a pleasure working with you. It's been an amazing past year-and-a-half, and you have a huge career ahead of you,' " he says. "They would always joke around about it. They've kind of slowed down about it, but who knows — this kid could die at any second." Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit Transcript This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BREAKING BAD") (SOUNDBITE OF TELEPHONE RINGING) AARON PAUL: (as Jesse Pinkman) Yo, yo, yo, 1, 4, 8, 3 to the 3 to the 6 to the 9, representing the ABQ. What up, be-atch? Leave at the tone.

(SOUNDBITE OF TELEPHONE BEEP) GROSS: That's how Aaron Paul used to sound as Jesse Pinkman in the early days of the AMC series "Breaking Bad." Back then, Jesse was a teenager cooking and selling meth, working with his former chemistry teacher Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston. In Season Four this year, both were working for a drug lord and were in way over their heads. We're going to listen back to the interview I recorded with Aaron Paul in September, as we continue our series featuring some of our most entertaining interviews of the year. Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston have won Emmys for their performances on "Breaking Bad." When the series began, Walt was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Needing money for his treatment, and wanting to leave money for his family when he died, he decided to use his chemistry expertise to cook crystal meth. His meth became legendary. Jesse, his former, flunking student who was already cooking and selling meth small time, became Walt's assistant cook. Before "Breaking Bad," Aaron Paul was best known for his performance in "Big Love," as Amanda Seyfried's husband.

Let's start with a scene from the first season of "Breaking Bad," soon after Walt and Jesse have teamed up. Jesse was supposed to sell the meth they just cooked, and bring back the money. Walt is really angry when Jesse shows up late. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BREAKING BAD") BRYAN CRANSTON: (as Walter White) We were supposed to start at 3. PAUL: (as Jesse) Hey, I'm out there making fat stacks, man, chill. Hey, prepaid cell phone. Use it. CRANSTON: (as Walter) How much is this? PAUL: (as Jesse) Twenty-six big ones. CRANSTON: (as Walter) Is that all, $26,000? PAUL: (as Jesse) No, that's 2,600, and your share is 13 - minus 25 bucks for that phone. CRANSTON: (as Walter) How much meth did you sell? PAUL: (as Jesse) Nearly an ounce. CRANSTON: (as Walter) Last time I checked, there were 16 ounces to a pound.

What'd you do with the rest, smoke it? PAUL: (as Jesse) Yo, I've been out there all night slinging crystal. You think it's cake moving a pound of meth one teenth at a time? CRANSTON: (as Walter) So why are you selling it in such small quantities? Why don't you just sell the whole pound at once? PAUL: (as Jesse) To who? What do I look like, Scarface? CRANSTON: (as Walter) This is unacceptable. I am breaking the law here. This return is too little for the risk. I thought you'd be ready for another pound today. PAUL: (as Jesse) You may know a lot about chemistry, man, but you don't know jack about slinging dope. CRANSTON: (as Walter) Well, I'll tell you, I know a lack of motivation when I see it. PAUL: (as Jesse) Oh, my... CRANSTON: (as Walter) C'mon. You've got to be more imaginative, you know. Just think outside the box here. We have to move our product in bulk, wholesale. Now how do we do that?

PAUL: (as Jesse) What do mean - to like, a distributor? CRANSTON: (as Walter) Yes, yes, that's what we need. We need a distributor. Now, do you know anyone like that? PAUL: (as Jesse) Yeah, I mean, I used to until you killed him. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) GROSS: Aaron Paul, welcome to FRESH AIR. I love that scene. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: Thank you so much. GROSS: And I love the way your former chemistry teacher, who's now your partner cooking meth, is lecturing you about your lack of motivation - the way only a teacher could. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) GROSS: Now, your character, Jesse, starts off as - I mean, he's a kid from the suburbs who's an underachiever, and he's modeled his look and his way of speaking on hip-hop culture; probably watched a lot of like, Beastie Boy videos. PAUL: Yes, absolutely. GROSS: And you get the picture from the cell phone message that we played. Who did you model Jesse on, early in the series?

PAUL: Really, it was a combination of people that I've met throughout my life, and people that I've encountered in New Mexico. And it's all over the place. And so I just kind of tried to form a unique, interesting personality through people that I've encountered. GROSS: So we're into the fourth season of "Breaking Bad" now. Have you come close to counting how many times you've used the word bitch? (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: Oh, wow. The yos and bitches - it's too many to count. It's incredible. And all of those are scripted. Nothing - a lot of people ask me if - do you just improv the yos or the bitches sometimes? And everything's on the page. It's great. GROSS: So your character, Jesse, was supposed to be killed off in the first season of "Breaking Bad." How did you find out that your character was doomed? When did you learn that? PAUL: I didn't learn that until towards the end of the first season. We were on the sixth episode, so the fifth episode plus the pilot. And we had one more to go, and I hadn't read the script yet.

And Vince - we were at lunch, and Vince is... GROSS: This is the creator, Vince Gilligan. PAUL: Yeah, this is creator Vince Gilligan; calls me over and he's, you know, eating with all the writers. And he goes, I want to tell you something. And I go, what's that? And he goes, originally Jesse was supposed to die at the end of this season. This is the first time I've ever heard any of this. And instantly, my heart kind of dropped and slowed down a bit. And he goes, but we don't think we're going to do that anymore. And I was just - I was like, what do you mean? What are you talking about? Like, what's the plan? And he's like, no, we just - I just wanted to let you know that that's not the plan anymore. And I didn't know how to take it, but he said that they just loved the, you know, the dynamic between Walt and Jesse and the chemistry that, you know, Bryan and I kind of brought to these characters. He decided to change the whole dynamic of their relationship and really, of the show.

But the entire second season, the entire third season, I thought that Jesse could be a goner at any moment because there's, you know, many things that this character has screwed up on, and, you know, he could definitely meet his deathbed at any moment, so. And they'd always tease me. They'd always joke around, saying: Oh, did you read the next script? And I would say no, not yet. I haven't got it. You know, I haven't got it. And, you know, Bryan would come up and give me a hug and say, well, I'm not going to say anything but, you know, it was such a pleasure working with you. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: It's been an amazing past year and a half and, you know, you have a huge career ahead of you. And so they would always joke around about it. They kind of slowed down this fourth season, but we'll see. Who knows? I mean, this kid could die at any second. GROSS: Well, when I interviewed Vince Gilligan, he basically said he couldn't imagine the series without you. PAUL: Oh, I love that man.

How nice is he? GROSS: But he also made it clear, that's no guarantee. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) GROSS: So - but, you know, that kind of uncertainty, I could see that being a little helpful because Jesse's never sure how long he's going to live. So why should you know? PAUL: Right, yeah, exactly. It's true. GROSS: Jesse's changed so much in the course of the now four seasons of the show. And, you know, he starts off really small-time. You know, he's almost like, still a kid. And now, he's involved with this big drug ring and - where there's a lot of violence, a lot of money. At the end of Season Three - last season - Walt is afraid that the head of the drug ring is going to kill him as soon as Walt has finished training his assistant cook, a man named Gale, in how to prepare the meth recipe. And if the head of the drug ring kills Walt, he'll probably kill Jesse, too. So Walt thinks the only hope is to have Jesse kill this assistant meth cook, Gale. So he convinces Jesse that Jesse has to murder the assistant cook.

And so you - Jesse - kill Gale, and then you just really become dead inside afterwards. So you kill him; you're dead inside; you start using meth again. And then you end up going to your support group, your drug support group. You want to confess that you've killed a man, but you can't confess that. So you make up a story that you've killed a dog. And here's a clip from that scene in the support group. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BREAKING BAD") PAUL: (as Jesse) A couple weeks back, I - uh - killed a dog. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (as character) You hit him with your car? PAUL: (as Jesse) No, I put him down. I watched him go. I was looking him straight in the eye, and he didn't know what was happening. He didn't know why. He - he was just scared, and then he was gone. GROSS: And then members of the support group try to comfort Jesse. And one of them says oh, well, the dog was suffering; putting him down was a kindness.

And then when Jesse says that's not what happened, the woman in the group assumes oh, well, the dog must have bitten someone, so you did the right thing. And then you say it wasn't that. And then another person in the group assumes like, well, you must have started using meth again, and that took you to the dark side - because that's what meth does. And everybody's trying to help you justify killing this dog, and you know that there's really no justification for what you've done, which is killing a man. So let's pick up the scene from there. And the leader of the support group speaks first. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BREAKING BAD") JERE BURNS: (as Group Leader) How'd you feel about what you did, Jesse? PAUL: (as Jesse) I don't know. UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (as Colleen) Who cares how you feel? What kind of a person kills a dog for no reason? BURNS: (as Group Leader) Colleen. UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (as Colleen) You put an ad in the paper; you drop him off at a shelter...

BURNS: (as Group Leader) Colleen. UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (as Colleen) You don't just sit there and talk about killing a helpless, innocent animal. BURNS: (as Group Leader) Colleen, we're not here to sit in judgment. PAUL: (as Jesse) Why not? Why not? Maybe she's right. You know, maybe I should have put it in the paper. Maybe I should've done something different. The thing is, if you just do stuff and nothing happens, what's it all mean? What's the point? All right, this whole thing is about self-acceptance. BURNS: (as Group Leader) Kicking the hell out of yourself doesn't give meaning to anything. PAUL: (as Jesse) So I should stop judging and accept? BURNS: (as Group Leader) It's a start. PAUL: (as Jesse) So no matter what I do, hooray for me because I'm a great guy? It's all good? No matter how many dogs I kill, I just - what, do an inventory and accept? I mean, you back your truck over your own kid and you like, accept?

What a load of crap. BURNS: (as Group Leader) Hey, Jesse, I know you're in pain... PAUL: (as Jesse) No, you know what? Why I'm here in the first place is to sell you meth. You're nothing to me but customers. I made you my bitch. You OK with that, huh? You accept? BURNS: (as Group Leader) No. PAUL: (as Jesse) About time. GROSS: That's my guest, Aaron Paul, as Jesse Pinkman in a scene from this season of "Breaking Bad." You are so lost at this point in the storyline. Do you feel like the character you're playing now is different from the character you started playing on "Breaking Bad," because so much has happened to him, he's changed so much? PAUL: Oh, wow, 100 percent. He is so broken now. I mean, he was a lost kid at the beginning of the series, you know, just kind of struggling to find his way. But he was content with dime-bagging it; you know, just selling teenths at a time and living in his aunt's house. But when Mr.

White comes back into his life, and they continue to go down this dark rabbit hole - and they can't seem to get out of it; they're both so in way over their heads. And now, you know, Jesse has completely, really, lost the support of his family. He had lost his first really true love, I think, with Jane, that was - started off as a good influence on Jesse but then just turned into like, a chemical romance, really. And then - and now, you know, he's a murderer, and he's just lost and tortured, and it's so tragic what he's going through. GROSS: And murder really isn't in his nature. PAUL: No. GROSS: But he's had to do, and he has to live with the consequences of that. Did you have to figure out: Who is Jesse without the drugs and the poses? PAUL: Yeah, yeah, I really - you know, joining this series, obviously I had no idea where this character was going, and I didn't really have much of a backstory. But as the seasons have gone on, I feel like I have a true grasp of who this kid is, inside and out.

And it's incredible how I feel like, such a personal connection with Jesse. It feels like he's almost a part of me, to be honest. But I couldn't be such a polar opposite from this kid. But going to work every day, and kind of zipping on his skin, is such a - you know, such a dream. GROSS: What makes you the opposite of Jesse Pinkman? PAUL: I feel like I have my life together, really, and Jesse just seems like he's constantly just struggling to keep his head above water. And he's just this, you know, messed-up kid trying to find his way. But you know he has this soul; he has this heart. I mean, that's why I feel people, you know, are rooting for him. And they just want to, you know, hug him and tell him it's going to be OK. But at the end of the day, like, is it really? Is it going to be? You don't know. GROSS: He wouldn't accept that hug anyways. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: No, no, he actually would not, no.

GROSS: You've taken a lot of punishment in the series. You've been beaten in a lot of very imaginative ways. Would you have problems watching scenes like when you're beaten up, or scenes when your face has been beaten to a pulp? Do you watch yourself in those scenes? PAUL: I do, yeah. I mean, I'll watch it when the show airs, you know, whether it being if I fly home to Idaho with my family - you know, they have a "Breaking Bad" night every week, and so - I come from a huge, huge, loving family, and they've been supportive since, you know, day one. So my parents are, you know, they're still madly in love. It's their 40th anniversary coming up in November. And I have many siblings. I have 14 nieces and nephews. And they throw a huge party. GROSS: Whoa. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: Yeah, they throw a huge party every Sunday night. So that's pretty great. GROSS: Your co-star, the star of the series "Breaking Bad," is Bryan Cranston.

Did you know him from "Malcolm in the Middle" - I mean, from watching him on "Malcolm in the Middle," in which he played the father? PAUL: Oh yeah, I loved him. I loved that show. I thought he was great. And... GROSS: And how old were you when you first started watching that? PAUL: Oh man, I actually - I was in L.A. when they were casting that pilot. I remember reading that pilot. And I went out for the older brother - didn't end up getting it, obviously. GROSS: Oh, no. Really? PAUL: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, Chris Masterson ended up getting the role, and he was brilliant on it. Bu, yeah, I was a huge fan of that show from day one. I think I've probably seen pretty much - like, every episode. But my mom is the biggest "Malcolm in the Middle" fan. She's obsessed. GROSS: Maybe that helped to ease the blow that you were going to play somebody who cooks meth in the series. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

When I told her that Bryan Cranston was the star of "Breaking Bad," the pilot that I had just booked, she lost her mind. She was so, so, so excited because she knew one day, she would be able to meet him, you know. So she was ecstatic. GROSS: So you're, obviously, very different from the Jesse Pinkman character that you play on "Breaking Bad." In fact, you know, he's a meth head. You grew up in Idaho; your father is a Baptist minister, yes? PAUL: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He's actually retired. He doesn't have a church he does every week anymore but he still does, you know, weddings and funerals, and sometimes will guest-speak at some churches. But yeah, throughout my entire life growing up in Idaho, we would go, you know, to his congregation every week and he would preach - yeah. GROSS: What was his preaching like? PAUL: It was - it was great. It was inspiring, really. I mean, he would get up in front of all these people and kind of just get lost in the moment as well.

And I think that's where I take – not that I'm saying he was really standing up there acting, but he would just really get lost into these stories. He would speak. And, you know, I left at such a young age. GROSS: Left Idaho, and left home? PAUL: Left Idaho. Yeah, I left Idaho at 17. You know, I graduated high school a year early and just - you know, the typical story; packed up my car and moved out. GROSS: When you left home at age 17, which - as you point out - is really young... PAUL: Yeah. GROSS: ...did your parents try to like, bar the door and do everything in their power to prevent you from going, and telling you that you were making a huge mistake that you would always regret; that you were throwing your life away, and throwing away everything that they had ever done to help you in life, etc.? PAUL: You know what? Not at all. It was quite the opposite. I always had the plan of moving to L.A. They knew I always wanted to do this.

And I think, really, in eighth grade, I made it certain just to let my parents know this was my plan. You know, I'm going to move to California or New York, and I'm going to try to become an actor. And so when I started taking it very seriously in high school and they would see, you know, these productions that we put on, and they would see how excited I would get about them, they were all about it when I mentioned to them that I wanted to take zero hour - where I'd go to school early, you know, to do an extra class and take correspondence - which was really home-schooling - as well, just to graduate early so I could get out to L.A. They just applauded me. And they said, go for it; just do it; you want this. Like, I love - you know, like, I love your passion. And most of my teachers were supportive. But there was this one teacher that came up to me when I was saying goodbye, really - because I had graduated, I'm done. And she said: I feel that you're making a big mistake, and what is your plan B?

I mean, do you have another plan if this doesn't work out? Like, what if it doesn't work out? And when I told my mom that - because from everywhere; I was getting blessings from every side. But I told my mom that, and my mom went straight into the school and just said, how dare you say this to my son? Like, what's your plan? What's your second - what if this doesn't work out for you? You know, what's your plan B? And it was just so great to see my mom like, take that control, because I've never seen her like that in my life. And it was just so great that they were supportive of going after dreams. GROSS: Well, they must have a lot of faith in you, and in your ability to follow through on the dream. PAUL: Yeah. No. You know, obviously, I couldn't have done this without them, and it's incredible - very, very blessed. GROSS: So you get to L.A., and then what? You don't know anybody there. You don't, I mean.... PAUL: Yeah, no, I know. GROSS: You have your car; it's packed up.

Then what? PAUL: Yeah. I actually – my mom came out with me. Found a little studio apartment, and she just wanted to make sure I would get settled. And it's funny: The weekend I was moving into this little, tiny studio apartment in North Hollywood, a bank robbery is in progress like, two blocks from my place. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: A giant bank robbery, and it ended in crazy bloodshed. And my mom is like, oh my God; where am I allowing my son to move to? But she, you know, she got on a plane and went back to Idaho and felt, I'm sure, very safe. But I'm sure she was scared for my life but she was still very, very, very supportive. But yeah, I didn't know anybody. I just, you know, saved up a bunch of money from random jobs I worked in Idaho, and just tried to find myself an agent and a manager. GROSS: And succeeded? PAUL: And succeeded. Yeah. Yeah. I got a... GROSS: Oh, how did you do it? Did you just talk them into it, or what?

PAUL: Yeah, I just talked them into it, and bribed them a little bit. But... GROSS: With... No. I - (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: No, I didn't bribe them. I actually - I ended up going to this acting competition that was held downtown Los Angeles. And I mean, there's just thousands of kids there. And I ended up signing with a manager there, and then he found me an agent pretty quickly - like, you know, a couple weeks later. And that agent, Loch Powell, is now my manager, and I've been with them since day one. And, you know, I really owe everything to him. He's great. GROSS: Well, you paid off. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) GROSS: So can I just say something about the voice that you do as Jesse? PAUL: Yeah. GROSS: There's something about the voice that - Jesse always seems to be on the verge of like, complaining or whining, or feeling put upon. PAUL: Right. GROSS: It's like he still a teenager, you know what I mean?

It's like, still, his parents are nagging him or his teacher is nagging him. That's his kind of like, posture in the world a lot of the time. PAUL: Right. Yeah. It's true. GROSS: Is that what you've been trying for vocally? PAUL: Yeah. No, I mean, it just - I see Jesse as this kid that still hasn't found his footing, you know? And I love that he, you know, he still calls Walter White Mr. White. GROSS: Yeah. Yeah. That's so great. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: He's just lost in his own world. And - I don't know. I think - well, you know, this season is where he's really, he's kind of taking the reins of his life. GROSS: Well, I just want to say, if Vince Gilligan is listening, please do not kill off Jesse Pinkman. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) PAUL: Yes. I agree. Thank you so much. GROSS: Aaron Paul, it's been great to talk with you. Thank you so much. PAUL: Thank you so much, Terry.

GROSS: Aaron Paul plays Jesse Pinkman on the AMC series "Breaking Bad." Our interview was recorded in September. It's part of our week-long retrospective of some of our favorite entertainment and pop-culture interviews of the year. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. Aaron Paul | Breaking Bad Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Season 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Aaron Paul Sturtevant is an American actor who starred as Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad . He won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work in Season 3 and Season 4 of Breaking Bad. Contents [ show ] Bio Born in Idaho to a retired Baptist minister, Aaron got started in acting with his family's church. In high school he fell in love with the prospect of being an actor and moved to L.A. after graduating. Aaron held dozens of roles on a variety of TV shows until he caught his first break and was cast in a recurring role on HBO's Big Love. His big break came the following year when he was cast as Jesse on Breaking Bad. He married Lauren Corinne Parsekian on May 26, 2013.

He played the psychopath, Francis, in the remake of the 1972 film, The Last House on the Left, in 2009. Aaron and Giancarlo Esposito worked together previously on the Ghost Whisperer episode "Fury" in 2006. Videos Add a photo to this gallery Trivia In early 2000 Aaron was a contestant on "The Price Is Right". Though his flamboyant behavior was the most memorable part as he screamed his admiration to Bob Barker as he jumped around the set and actually made Mr. Barker a little tense the whole segment. Sadly, Aaron lost the prize but was allowed to go take a spin on the wheel. (The Video Here: ) He played a psychopath in the 2009 remake of the the 1972 film, The Last House on the Left, playing opposite Michael Bowen , in a minor role. His character, Francis, along with a gang of psychopaths, brutally murders Michael Bowen's character, Morton. Production Aaron Paul was paid $150,000 per episode in season 5 [1] .

Notes Aaron Paul of 'Breaking Bad' has 'SNL' cameo Aaron Paul of 'Breaking Bad' has 'SNL' cameo DAVID BAUDER Pin it Share FILE - In a Sunday Sept. 22, 2013 file photo, Aaron Paul, left, and Bryan Cranston arrive at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre, in Los Angeles. On Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013, "Saturday Night Live" had some fun with anticipation over Sunday's "Breaking Bad" finale, with the help from Aaron Paul in a surprise cameo. Paul, who plays Walter White's drug compatriot Jesse Pinkman in the Emmy-winning AMC series, appeared in the opening segment of the new "Saturday Night Live" season. He portrayed one of several "average Americans" joining President Obama to testify to the need for health care coverage.(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) More NEW YORK (AP) — "Saturday Night Live" had some fun with anticipation over Sunday's "Breaking Bad" finale with help from Aaron Paul in a surprise cameo.

Paul, who plays Walter White's drug compatriot Jesse Pinkman in the Emmy-winning AMC series, appeared in the opening segment of the new "SNL" season. He portrayed one of several average Americans joining President Barack Obama to testify to the need for health care coverage. Paul mentioned a "friend" who badly needed health care when he got sick with cancer. "The man was a teacher with a family," interjected Obama, played by "SNL" cast member Jay Pharoah. "He did what any of us would have done," Paul said. "He started cooking meth. And soon it wasn't just meth, it was murder. And not regular murder, he blew half a guy's face off." Not pleased with the example, Obama sought to usher him off the stage. "Wait," Paul said. "You don't want to know what happened to my friend?" "No," said Obama, shaking his head. He was joined by several people on stage for the mock presidential speech who gave Paul a stop sign. The "Breaking Bad" series finale airs Sunday. Fans are curious about what happens to White, the cancer-stricken teacher whose desire to provide for his family turns him into a drug lord.

Former "SNL" chief writer and cast member Tina Fey was host of the late-night show's opener, drawing a connection to the past in what is shaping up as a transition year with the introduction of several new cast members. Reblog ‘Breaking Bad’ spinoff ‘Better Call Saul’ set for November release | New York Post ‘Breaking Bad’ spinoff ‘Better Call Saul’ set for November release Bob Odenkirk, who plays Saul Goodman, in a scene from the final season of "Breaking Bad." AP More On: Bryan Cranston's inner killer helped him create Walter White ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Walter White’s lawyer is returning to Albuquerque. AMC announced this week that the “Breaking Bad” spinoff, “Better Call Saul,” will premiere in November 2014, but no specific date has been released. The series will follow sleazy attorney Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, as he defends drug lords, criminals and those allegedly injured in minor traffic accidents. The network has already created a website for the fiction lawyer, with Saul Goodman’s signature videos boasting how he can get anyone out of legal trouble.

The website includes “testimonies” from a drug dealer and prostitute who tell potential clients how he got them out of jail. “Breaking Bad,” which ended last year and was filmed in Albuquerque, followed former high school teacher Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston. White produced methamphetamine with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul. Odenkirk played their attorney who came up with money laundering schemes from his Albuquerque shopping mall office. AMC has given few details on the upcoming spinoff nor have show creators said how much of it would be filmed in Albuquerque. But the fictional website shows “Breaking Bad” characters bragging in video on the streets of Albuquerque about how the convincing lawyer was able to pull them out of jail For example, one such testimony comes from Badger, a methamphetamine dealer on “Breaking Bad” played by Matt Jones, who tells viewers that Goodman got him out of legal trouble after undercover officers arrested him for selling drugs — a reference to an episode of “Breaking Bad.” “And then, bam! Saul Goodman shows up,” Jones says in the video.

“He’s like, get out of here cop, because of the Constitution.” Within two days, Jones said he was back on the street and “burning one with my homies.” The website also includes fictional advertisements from “Breaking Bad” businesses like Los Pollos Hermanos, a chicken restaurant used as a front for drug lord Gus Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito. Share this: Where 'Breaking Bad' is just getting started - CNN.com Where 'Breaking Bad' is just getting started By Jane Caffrey, CNN Updated 4:30 PM ET, Tue August 26, 2014 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Diego Trujillo, right, and Roberto Urbina star in the Spanish-language adaptation of "Breaking Bad," "Metastasis." Story highlights The Emmy-winning "Breaking Bad" has a Spanish-language adaptation The series debuts in Latin America in September It's already bowed in the States and in Mexico to positive response Sixteen Emmy Awards.

That's how many trophies the cast and crew of "Breaking Bad" have hauled home after five seasons of groundbreaking TV, with six of those honors being earned at Monday's 66th Primetime Emmy Awards. The three-hour ceremony, hosted by "Late Night's" Seth Meyers, nearly doubled as one long standing ovation for the AMC series, which ended its run in September 2013. Emmy Awards: 'Breaking Bad' goes out on top But as creator Vince Gilligan and stars Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul laid "Breaking Bad" to rest with gleaming Emmys in their hands, elsewhere in the world the series is just getting started. In September, Latin America will get its own, Spanish-language version of "Breaking Bad" called "Metastasis." The premise is the same -- a science teacher decides to cash in on his specialized knowledge by entering the drug trade, to devastating consequences -- but the setting is Bogota, Colombia. Instead of watching the evolution of a man named Walter White (played by Cranston in "Breaking Bad"), potential fans will follow Walter Blanco, as played by Colombian actor Diego Trujillo.

Walter Blanco has wife a named Cielo -- the Colombian equivalent of Anna Gunn's Skyler -- and a partner-in-crime named Jose Miguel Rosas, the equivalent of Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman. The series debuted in the States on the Spanish language network UniMas in June, and has also made its way to Mexico. But "in Colombia, not many people know about 'Breaking Bad,'" Trujillo explained in an interview from Bogota. "There's not a great cable culture here, people watch open television on the basic channels that we have. 'Metastasis' is going to be a great surprise." While adapting shows to another language is commonplace -- Trujillo previously worked on Latin American versions of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives," and the U.S. turned Colombian series "Betty La Fea" into "Ugly Betty" -- producing "Metastasis" was no easy task. The cast had to film the entirety of "Breaking Bad" nearly shot for shot in just six months, and they didn't know how the story was going to end because the final season of "Breaking Bad" was still in development at the time. Despite those challenges, the story doesn't get lost in translation.

Well-crafted symbolism, such as the noteworthy pink teddy bear that falls from a plane, appears in "Metastasis," as do other scenes well-known to "Breaking Bad" viewers. "The themes that it touches are very universal," Urbina said. "To me, the show is a moral question about how far you would go while exploring the complex character like that of Walter." One of Walter's scenes that strikes a chord with Trujillo takes place near the end of the series, when the "Metastasis" protagonist comes back to see his wife Cielo and say goodbye to her and their baby girl. "That's Walter and that's what all the characters are," Trujillo said. "Every scene is full of contradiction, it's full of humanity." While both Trujillo and Urbina were certainly influenced by Cranston and Paul's portrayals of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, they made an effort to break away from the original and make the characters, and the show, their own. "When you start working with a different language, with a different director, a different cast, and our own traditions, at the end you really do your own version," Trujillo said. "Characters come alive by themselves.

You forget very soon what you saw, and the reference you have of the other actor." When Urbina first began filming, he was too attached to Paul's portrayal of Jesse, with the memory of "Breaking Bad" scenes ingrained in his mind. Yet by making a conscious effort to start from scratch, he said he reimagined his Jose Miguel Rosas. "I think the biggest difference between Jesse and Jose is they are both very insecure people, but I think Jesse's character shows that through aggression and violence, while Jose, I tried to make him a little more vulnerable," Urbina said. "I think you are able to relate more to him and feel what he is feeling. He's not a character afraid of showing his sadness, his emotion." There are other factors that distinguish "Metastasis" from "Breaking Bad." The setting of Bogota moves the story into the urban environment of a big city, as opposed to Albuquerque's suburban landscape. The city also lacks deserts, or the border and immigration issues prevalent in Albuquerque. With its high elevation, Bogota is cold year-round, so the pool in Walter's backyard is replaced by a fountain, which Cielo falls into as she's having a dream.

The RV where Walter and Jesse make their great escape in the "Breaking Bad" pilot is also replaced by a rickety school bus turned into a lab for "Metastasis." Although they're sharing similar material, there's no competition for the actors. Quite the opposite, actually: Urbina and Trujillo were both rooting for "Breaking Bad" to win at the Emmys on Monday. "Cranston's performance is absolutely wonderful. He deserves all the awards, as well as the rest of (the cast)," Trujillo said. "I think they are just great actors, and they did a great, great job." So far, Urbina and Trujillo haven't been doing too badly with the roles themselves. The actors said Vince Gilligan admires "Metastasis," and they've received positive feedback from fans near and far. "I have gotten an amazing response from people all over, people in Mexico and the States," Urbina said. "There was this one guy in Mexico that wrote to me, and it was very touching because he identified with the character. He went down on drugs and he lost his girlfriend and he was reaching out, not for help, but to connect and to grieve.

So I think it has touched people in a very powerful way." There is only more to come, as the much anticipated season finale airs on UniMas in mid-September, and "Metastasis" comes to Latin American audiences with Fox Live on September 1. "The story is really well-adapted to our conditions here," Trujillo said. "People are going to believe it, believe the people. It's an amazing story, and I'm sure it's going to be really well received."

Question: Played by Aaron Paul, who was Walter White’s co-protagonist in ‘Breaking Bad’?
Answer: JESSE PINKMAN