MAJOR Breaking Bad SPOILERS beyond this point!
Is it possible that Walter White may have lived to cook another day? Bryan Cranston seems willing to entertain the thought when he briefly discussed the ending of Breaking Bad in an interview with CNN's Ashleigh Banfield. When she brought up the theory that, just maybe, Walter White survived that final scene, Cranston seemed to encourage the possibility. You can check it out in the second half of this video below:
They begin by discussing Godzilla, in which Cranston truly was a scene-stealer. And then it comes around to Breaking Bad. CNN's Ashleigh Banfield suggests that maybe Walter White didn't die at the very end of Breaking Bad. "I'm going to ask you really, seriously, I wasn't so sure you died. I really wasn't," Banfield said. "Your eyes were open and I thought, 'what if the police just take him into custody, he gets better, breaks out and just goes nuts?"
Ok, before we even go any further into this conversation, for those whose memory of the very ending of Breaking Bad is rusty, White's final scene has him shot through the abdomen and laying on the floor of the meth lab. Jesse has taken off, all of Walt's enemies are dead (or in Lydia's case, dying). Walter White is last seen on his back, dead or dying of the gunshot wound, not to mention the cancer that's likely already weakened his body.
It's assumed that if he's not dead, then he's going to be soon. It's over. There's no wink to the camera or twitch of a smile or any little hint that maybe, just maybe, he'll walk away from this. But from what Cranston says in this CNN interview, anything is possible.
"Hey, you never saw bag zip up or anything," Cranston says, in response to Banfield's theory.
"Is he dead?" she asks.
"I don't know," Cranston responds, smiling.
"No movie, no nothing?" Banfield asks. "No Walter White ever again?"
"Never say never," Cranston says, mysteriously.
And that's pretty much it. Never say never. It's entirely possible that Cranston is just messing with us. Or maybe the "never say never" is a hint that we might see Walter White back someday, though not necessarily alive post-Breaking Bad. There is the upcoming AMC prequel series Better Call Saul, which could very well bring Walter White "back to life" in some way, as the prequel series is expected to jump around in time a bit, which would allow for some past-version of Walter White to exist.
As amusing as Cranston's comments are, I'm of the mindset that Walter White is dead, and I'll stick to that until/unless Vince Gilligan confirms otherwise. But it's fun to consider the alternative, and it's hard not to think of the curious appeal of Walter White living, surviving and rising back up sometime for a sequel series...
But no, he's dead.
I'm pretty sure.
