Breaking Bad Characters are counted among the most vibrant, striking and memorable characters, we have ever witnessed in a Television Series. The credit of such superior Character design goes to Vince Gilligan.
The sublime writing style of Vince Gilligan, particularly the methodical manner in which he develops the Breaking Bad Characters, defines them through the problems they face and how they implement solutions to move forward.
Here are we are going to have a look at the Most Popular Breaking Bad Characters created by Vince Gilligan . Let’s dive in.
Also Read: Vince Gilligan Universe – Playground of a Truly Invested Writer
1. Walter White aka Heisenberg (Bryan Cranston)
Walter White who made the phrase, “I am not in danger, Skyler. I AM the danger!” popular with every television addict, and the name Heisenberg, the most popular avatar name among new generations, is the protagonist of the series Breaking Bad, around whom the series revolves around.
Walter White is a low-key high school chemistry teacher who after being diagnosed with lung cancer, enters the world of Meth-Making to provide for his family after his death. Being a rookie in the drug trade, Walter takes the aid of his former student, and a drug peddler Jesse Pinkman, to help him sell the meth. Walter’s own knowledge of chemistry better than anyone else, paves way for the purest meth, one has ever produced in the meth business.
Walt who started making meth to support his family finally finds his solace in the drug business with his increasing ambition to become a drug lord. Being an underdog for all his life, Walter finally gets some recognition as Heisenberg, leads to criminal acts such as money laundering, theft and even murder. Walt’s turning into a Macbeth-like character from an underrated chemistry teacher to a new Drug Kingpin involves a deep level of repressed ambition, rage, resentment, vanity, and an increasing ruthlessness which alienates him from his family and colleagues. Without Walter White, the list of Breaking Bad Characters is of no use. Hail, the Lord.
Also Read: Most Bad-Ass TV Characters
2. Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul)
Jesse Pinkman, the official henchman of Walter White, and Breaking Bad’s most favourite character. He is a small-time punk and meth addict, who both manufactures and sells it for a living. When Jesse finally sees the potential and purity of meth created by Walt, he quickly approaches his ex-chemistry teacher and gives him an offer he can’t refuse.
Jesse is impulsive and uneducated beyond high school but is financially ambitious. He dreams to become a person of value by climbing up the status ladder, though he has the culture of the street going through his veins that include playful slang, garish clothing, video games, and rap-rock music. Jesse is far more conscientious than Walt who is horrified by the brutality at the higher levels of the drug trade but remains involved with Walt because he is not sure what else he can do.
Throughout the series, Jesse Character arc explores his protectiveness towards children; his desire to keep children out of the violent drug world which gives rise to several key events in the series. He wrestles with feelings of guilt about the deaths, all drug-related, of people he has been associated with. Towards the end of the fifth season, he is overwhelmed by guilt and his “blood money.” Realizing how much pain he has caused for money leads him to attempt to give bundles of cash from his final payoff to people he knows and then throws them from his car window onto random lawns and porches. In El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Jesse departs for a new life in Alaska.
3. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk)
Saul Goodman whose real name is James Morgan McGill is a sleazy lawyer who acts as Walter and Jesse’s attorney in Breaking Bad. He uses the name “Saul Goodman” because he thinks that this name makes his activities sound good, while in actuality he has extensive connections within the criminal underworld.
Saul is a highly competent lawyer who is able to solve problems and find loopholes in order to protect his clients. He is also reluctant to be associated with violence or murder. His background is explored in Better Call Saul, taking place about six years before Breaking Bad. As the timelines reach Breaking Bad, Saul has established an office in a strip mall and advertises across the city. He works with Gus and Mike to help cover their drug business and helps introduce Walter and Jesse to Gus as a potential buyer.
4. Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito)
Gus Fring or Gustavo Fring is the Chilean-born proprietor of a highly successful fried chicken restaurant chain. However, despite outward appearances, Gus is a major drug kingpin initially affiliated with the Mexican drug cartel in Ciudad Juárez, who uses his restaurants as a front for meth distribution throughout the American southwest. Like Walter White, Gus is a criminal who “hides in plain sight,” using his anti-drug philanthropy to conceal his true nature.
Gus seeks to create his own source of meth and eliminate his reliance on Cartel cocaine by building a “superlab” beneath an industrial laundromat, the motive which is explored in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
5. Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)
Mike Ehrmantraut is a former Philadelphia police officer who works for Gus—and, on occasion, Saul—as a private investigator, head of security, evidence cleaner, and hit-man.
The prequel series Better Call Saul revealed that Mike, a crooked cop, murdered two other crooked cops who had killed his son Matt, also a police officer after Matt hesitated to involve himself in corruption. Mike makes a cameo in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie where he and Jesse discuss their plans before quitting the drug business. It is Mike’s suggestion of a new life in Alaska that drives Jesse’s ambitions following his escape from Jack Welker’s gang.
So, Here we finishes our list of Most Popular Breaking Bad Characters, and we are aware that we have missed a lot of interesting one’s here. Yet, these are the ones we rave about but if you like to add more characters in the list, do write to us in the comment section below.
Breaking Bad created and produced by Vince Gilligan is a crime drama television series streaming on Netflix.
