Bryan Cranston has revealed that he had no idea whether Walter White was telling the truth during a key dramatic moment from Breaking Bad.
In the fourth season, Walt plots to turn Jesse (Aaron Paul) against drug crime lord Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). To do so, he poisons Brock, the child of a woman – Andrea – that Jesse is dating, framing the incident as the work of the Los Pollos Hermanos manager.
During one explosive confrontation, Jesse threatens Walt, believing that his one-time meth cook mentor was the one pulling the strings.
While that is the truth, Cranston's reactions as Walt were acted as if he truly believed Gus was the one responsible, even asking Jesse to shoot him if he felt that Walt was the one who spiked Brock using Lily of the Valley.
Speaking on Variety's Actors on Actors with Better Call Saul actor Rhea Seehorn, Cranston recalled how he played the moment – and ended up being completely wrong.
"I'm going, 'Why would I do that?' I point the finger in the direction of Giancarlo Esposito's character… Then, the next episode [script] came a few days later and I'm reading it and I go, 'Oh, I did do it.' Oops. My bad!"
However, Cranston said he would have still acted the same way in the scene, pointing towards Walt's need to be "believable" in any scenario.
As Seehorn pointed out, actors on Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan's shows rarely have the luxury of looking ahead. She said they "don't generally even get told an outline of what the whole season will be."
Script or no script, Seehorn is collaborating once more with Gilligan on the upcoming Pluribus season 2. Gilligan admitted it would take time for the new season to air but, as of February, is "deeper" into the creative process.
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