Breaking Bad Creator Knows Why Fans Hated One Character So Much
The Breaking Bad universe has finally wrapped up with the end of Better Call Saul, and now the creator has commented on why a certain character was hated so much.
This article is more than 2 years old
Breaking Bad and the corresponding universe of Better Call Saul have officially wrapped. Creator Vince Gilligan is moving on to pitch his new series, which is going to be far from those shows and more like The Twilight Zone, at least according to Gilligan. However, the man has spent some time reflecting on his own creation, and how fans hated a certain character in the series. That character was Skyler, Walter White’s wife. According to Gilligan, “I realize in hindsight that the show was rigged, in the sense that the storytelling was solely through Walt’s eyes, even in scenes he wasn’t present for. Even Gus [Giancarlo Esposito], his archenemy, didn’t suffer the animosity Skyler received. It’s a weird thing. I’m still thinking about it all these years later.”
Although Vince Gilligan makes a valid point, he must remember that Breaking Bad sort of lived and died on Walter White. The show would not have been as successful if we were not invited into the world of White, and how his ambition blinded him into becoming this monster of a human being. Even though he became a drug kingpin, people still wanted to cheer and root for him. Skyler was that character that sort of disgraced Walt, and it made the world hate her. However, all she was trying to do was to protect herself and her family. That is the mark of a great actor though. Anna Gunn portrayed Skyler White. Gilligan commented on how he had been bothered that her character got so much hate, and that was a sentiment felt by Gunn as well. It could be because Bryan Cranston was magnanimous as Walter White too. It was just two great performances battling it out, with Cranston winning.
Vince Gilligan does know his characters better than we do, in a sense. He did create them and likely forgot that he created Walter White to be the “hero” of sorts, even though he was not a great person at all. Even Jesse Pinkman was a victim of Walter’s ambition, as he was chained up and forced to cook meth by the end of the series. Still, everyone kind of forgave Walter at the end of the series. At least that is how we see it. Still, Breaking Bad would not have worked as well any other way. Gilligan may feel bad about how he wrote the show, but the way he wrote it is what turned the series into a cultural phenomenon.
Better Call Saul just ended its sixth and final season, and it bridged the gap between watching Jimmy McGill turn into Saul Goodman, and how his criminal ways got the best of him. Naturally, this is what led him to partner with Walter White, who also turned Goodman’s life into a mess. This ended the Breaking Bad universe completely. We are likely not going to see Skyler White get her own type of redemption, and she might have to remain a hated character, as Gilligan has stated he wants to leave this universe behind for a few years. Still, we may see the universe revised at some point in the future. Everyone has seemingly got their own side story, and maybe Skyler is next on the spinoff series radar.
