Vince Gilligan Reveals 5 Alternate ‘Breaking Bad’ Endings

It could have been a lot more bleak

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Ursula Coyote / AMC

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan shared five alternate endings to the hit show during the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast on Tuesday. Here’s how he said the Sunday’s finale could have ended.

1. Walter White Turns Rambo

“Our original version was that Walt would use [the machine gun] somewhat in Rambo fashion. … [But] that felt wrong for Walt to go out brawn over brain, go out like Rambo. Walt on his best day was never Rambo.”

2. Walter White Turns Cop-Killer

“We thought, gee, is it too obvious he’d use [the machine gun] on a bunch of bad guys? … So we had versions that we talked about for instance where the police come and get him. He uses it on the police. But we didn’t like that. It just didn’t seem right.”

3. Walter White Turns Jail-Breaker

“We had a version where he goes and break Jesse out of jail just as the Nazis were gonna knock Jesse off in jail, and he comes in an uses the M60 to lay waste to an entire prison or prison bus.”

4. Skyler White Turns Suicidal

“I was leaning toward that and the other writers were like, that’s a bridge too far. … We talked about a possible version where Skyler and Walt are tied up at a Motel 6 kind of place and he’s talking to her in a bathroom saying, ‘It’s going to be alright. … I’ve got a plan. Skyler? Skyler?’ And he finally forced the door ope and she’s in a bloody tub or something like that.”

5. Jesse Dies, Then Walt Jr. Dies

Gilligan toyed with this idea before even filming the first season: Basically, Jesse is killed by a drug dealer and to get revenge, Walter shackles the drug dealer in a basement and tortures him. Walt sets up a shotgun trip wire in the hopes that the drug dealer will kill himself. Walter Jr. finds the drug dealer and tries to give him water, and the drug dealer uses the tripwire to kill them both.