“He could definitely meet his deathbed”: When Aaron Paul thought Jesse Pinkman was going to die in Breaking Bad

Aaron Paul’s iconic performance as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad is counted among one of the finest acts on television in recent years. His earnest portrayal of a student turned drug dealer and his chemistry with Bryan Cranston’s Walter White made the crime drama a pop culture phenomenon.

While Jesse was able to survive the events of the show and even got an epilogue film called El Camino, Aaron Paul feared that his character would not survive the second and third seasons. The actor’s fear stemmed from creator Vince Gilligan’s original plan of killing off Jesse in the first season.

While the creator changed his plan and informed Aaron, the actor remained worried about his character’s fate. In a 2019 interview with NPR, he revealed how he was consistently anxious about being killed off while filming the second and third seasons of Breaking Bad:

“The entire second season, the entire third season, I thought that Jesse could be a goner at any moment because there's, you know, many things that this character has screwed up on. And, you know, he could definitely meet his deathbed at any moment.”

When Aaron Paul thought Jesse Pinkman was going to die in Breaking Bad

During the interview, Aaron Paul added that even his co-stars, including Bryan Cranston, sensed his fear and started teasing him. They would often prank him about how the upcoming script is going to write him off Breaking Bad:

“They'd always tease me. They'd always joke around saying, oh, did you read the next script? And I would say, no, not yet. I haven't got it. You know, I haven't got it. And, you know, Bryan would come up and give me a hug and say, ‘Well, I'm not going to say anything. But, you know, it was such a pleasure working with you.’”

Aaron also revealed that his worries began when Vince Gilligan told him about how he wanted Jesse Pinkman to die in the first season in the original draft of Breaking Bad’s script. Gilligan eventually changed the script and the whole narrative of the show, looking at the spectacular performance of Aaron and his on-screen camaraderie with Bryan:

“This is creator Vince Gilligan - calls me over. And he's, you know, eating with all the writers. And he goes, I want to tell you something. And I go, what's that? And he goes, you know, originally, Jesse was supposed to die at the end of this season.”

“And this is the first time I've ever heard any of this. And instantly, my heart kind of dropped and slowed down a bit. And he goes, but we don't think we're going to do that anymore.”

Thankfully, Aaron’s fears did not come true as Jesse remained an integral part of Breaking Bad till its very end, and became one of the few characters who survived the events of the entire series. In 2019, he starred in the show’s sequel and epilogue film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

Aaron later also reprised the role in the prequel series Better Call Saul, along with Bryan. Since the conclusion of the AMC crime drama, the actor has appeared in shows like Westworld, Truth Be Told, Black Mirror, and The Path. His film credits include Adam, Come and Find Me, and Dual.

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