Breaking Bad Creator Doesn’t Want Walter White to Be His Legacy

Walter White is the one who knocks. The meek science teacher turned notorious drug lord Heisenberg remains one of the most iconic figures in television history. But if you’re Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, you don’t necessarily want Walter to be the most important person of your life.

At least, that’s the sentiment that Gilligan expressed to Hollywood Reporter. “As much as I love Walter White and as proud as I am of Breaking Bad—and as much as I know that it’ll be the first sentence in my obituary—at a certain point, you’re like, ‘God, it’d be nice to write a hero again, someone who’s trying to do the right thing,'” he confessed.

Gilligan found that person who’s doing the right thing in his latest show, Pluribus. The Apple TV series stars Better Call Saul‘s Rhea Seehorn as writer Carol Sturka, the one person apparently immune in a global pandemic. Unlike other viruses that recently afflicted the real world, this ailment renders its victims happy and content, making the melancholic Carol even more unique.

On first glance, Carol certainly doesn’t sound very different from Walter. Both unassuming, both dissatisfied with the world, and both thrust into action against their wills. Yet Gilligan sees a clear distinction between the two and their treatment of other people.

“Carol Sturka is a hero,” he declared. “She’s imperfect. She can be a bit of a noodge or a curmudgeon or what have you, but we root for her. She wants to do the right thing, and she wants to save the world. That’s refreshing.”

Another key difference between Carol and Walter has nothing to do with the way Gilligan writes them and everything to do with the way the audience receives them. He knows that viewers found Walter’s bad behavior intruiging, something they did not extend to his wife Skylar, played by Anna Gunn. “All the women reading this are going to say ‘duh,’ but even in this enlightened day and age in the year 2025, there’s a double standard,” he explained. “A male lead can be an asshole, and people are like, ‘Yeah, he’s powerful. He’s cool.’ …But, somehow, if a woman does that, it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s difficult. I don’t know if she’s likable.'”

But Gilligan’s not worried about whether or not people like Carol, because he likes her and he likes the actor playing her. He enthused, “I just love Rhea, and I wrote this thing for her. I knew that someone else with half a brain was going to snatch her up at the end of Better Call Saul, and I selfishly wanted to work with her again.”

With the release of Pluribus still a few days away, it’s too early to tell if Carol Sturka can take Walter White’s place in Gilligan’s obituary. But one thing is clear: Gilligan is having fun writing a hero, and that’s worth makes his life satisfying. His legacy will have to wait.

Pluribus streams on Apple TV on November 7, 2025.