Through five seasons of Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston completely shifted from being a beloved comedic actor to one of peak TV’s most celebrated thespians, all thanks to his increasingly more intimidating performance as Walter White. The former chemistry teacher became quite proficient with criminal acts, from cooking up nearly perfect meth to planting explosives to rigging up the show’s infamous “machine gun in the trunk of the Cadillac” contraption.
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So yeah, Walter White certainly knows a thing or two about machine guns — even if series creator Vince Gilligan has publicly regretted its inclusion — but not everyone might be aware that Bryan Cranston himself is apparently known to get into a Nerf gun war on occasion. At least whenever he’s invited to, as it went on the set of Modern Family whenever the Emmy-winning actor popped by the ABC sitcom to offer up his directing talents.
When Modern Family vet Nolan Gould appeared on former co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s On Me, the younger actor talked about how he, Ariel Winter and Rico Rodriguez used to be “maniacs” behind the scenes and would get into all kind of shenanigans. Here's how he boasted about getting the superstar actor to join their horseplay:
Do you remember the Nerf gun wars that we'd have on sets when we were done shooting on them? [My] crowning achievement was getting Bryan Cranston to do it at the height of Breaking Bad.
Host Jesse Tyler Ferguson did indeed remember that experience, and told Gould to share a little more about it, to which the To Do List actor said:
Bryan has directed a few episodes. And one day, I don't know how we did this, we invited him to come play Nerf guns with us. And so we have photos of us armed to the teeth with these things, next to Walter White himself.
Ferguson then addressed the fact that he'd actually hosted Bryan Cranston himself on the podcast previously, and that he'd talked about the Nerf gun experience at the time. As the Mitchell Pritchett actor put it:
He was a guest of the podcast. He told us that story, too. [He said] basically the same thing. I think that was like the true mark of being embraced by the cast is that the kids wanted to hang out with him.
As opposed to Modern Family and Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad didn't exactly have a ton of child actors hanging around the set. There was Walter and Skylar's baby, of course, but not until later, and it's probably not super safe (or fun) to play Nerf wars with an infant.
Cranston directed two episodes of Modern Family, one in Season 3 and one in Season 5, but that wasn’t his only stint behind the camera. He helmed three episodes of Breaking Bad, eps of Sneaky Pete and his Showtime thriller Your Honor, as well as that episode of The Office where a car stunt nearly went awry, with seven installments of Malcolm also under his directorial belt.
Just because he's proficient in directing doesn't mean he'll be quitting his day job anytime soon. To that end, Cranston’s comments about stepping away from acting went viral last year in ways he presumably didn’t intend for, since he came out afterward to clarify that he wasn’t fully retiring from the artform, but that he would be taking some time off when he turns 70 in 2026.
Before that happens, though, fans will get to see the actor return to his TV sitcom roots for Malcolm in the Middle’s officially confirmed revival, which will hopefully land on the 2025 premiere schedule.
In the meantime, fans can always rewatch Breaking Bad in full with a Netflix subscription, while Modern Family is available to stream in its entirety with a Hulu subscription.
