Breaking Bad creator reflects on fans who still ‘trouble’ him years later

Vince Gilligan has spoken out against the fans of Breaking Bad who still “trouble” him years later.

Gilligan created the hit AMC series, which ran from 2008 to 2013 and starred Bryan Cranston opposite Aaron Paul.

In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Gilligan reflected on the sexist fan reaction to Anna Gunn, who played Skyler, the wife of Cranston’s character Walter White.

“Back when the show first aired, Skyler was roundly disliked,” Gilligan told the publication.

“I think that always troubled Anna Gunn. And I can tell you it always troubled me, because Skyler, the character, did nothing to deserve that. And Anna certainly did nothing to deserve that. She played the part beautifully.”

He continued to say that he is “still thinking” about the “animosity” towards Skyler “all these years later”.

Gilligan said, however, that he understands that the storytelling of the series may have fostered a hostile reaction to the role of Skyler, for which Gunn won two Emmys.

“I realise in hindsight that the show was rigged, in the sense that the storytelling was solely through Walt’s eyes, even in scenes he wasn’t present for. Even Gus [a show villain played by Giancarlo Esposito], his arch-enemy, didn’t suffer the animosity Skyler received. It’s a weird thing. I’m still thinking about it all these years later,” he said.

In 2013, a month after the final season of Breaking Bad aired, Gunn wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which she criticised how “the hatred of Skyler blurred into a loathing for me as a person”.

Earlier this month, the final season of the Breaking Bad spin-off series Better Call Saul came to an end. Fans praised the series – co-created by Gilligan and starring Bob Odenkirk – and its conclusion as “perfect”.