It’s a question all fans of Breaking Bad have been asking themselves since the very beginning. How will the show end? What will happen to Walter White? And, FYI, if you aren’t already a fan of this incredible show, you really are missing out of the greatest television show certainly of the last 5 years… arguably of the new millennium.
Over the course of the now 4 and a half seasons, Walter’s fate has been changing. At the beginning of the show he was almost certainly going to die of cancer, and it is very likely, had the show have been canceled after 2 seasons or so, that Walter would have died of the disease. Later on in the show, when Walter was working for Gus, it seemed fairly possibly though not entirely plausible considering Walter is the shows anti-hero, that Gus or one of his henchman would end up killing Walter. Now that Walters dealt with the chicken man and is ”the man” of the meth trade, this again seems somewhat unlikely. There has always been many other possibilities however, and judging by the season 5 opening episodes first 5 minutes, it looks like some crazy sh*t is about to go down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, although it isn’t unlikely that this is some sort of red hearing.
I am going to list what, at this point, are the 6 most likely ways the show will end and Walter’s specific character arc will come to a close… that is if Vince Gilligan and co don’t decide to turn Breaking Bad into a movie. Having said this, he has said in many interviews since that even if a movie does happen, the show will still end how he thinks is best for the series. Watching an interview just a couple of months ago, the shows creator, Vince Gilligan stated that he himself wasn’t really sure on how to end the show at this current time. I’m thinking he probably knows now, but a year is along time to wait, and who knows which one of these fates (or possibly none of them) will happen to Walter White, TV’s greatest current screen character.
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45 Comments
I’m put my money in walter’s death. If he walks (or go to the jail) the show will not really end.
RE: Cancer – In the final episode Walter is shown going into an MRI machine again as part of the montage. In the opening sequence of the first episode where he buys the gun he seems unwell and is deliberately shown popping pills. These small pieces of detail (particularly the MRI which served no purpose in the episode) likely point to his cancer returning. Whether he will die from it is another matter.
Forgive my memory… it’s pretty dreadful but I’m not entirely sure that what you saw was actually what actually happens. At first I assumed when he had his MRI and was in the hospital bathroom afterwards that his cancer had come back… however, then I read the scene that it in fact hadn’t come back and he was all clear again. The last time he got the all clear he was pretty pissed, and he kind of looked a little pissed in the scene in season 5.
I forgot about the popping pills so you could very well be right… however maybe those are just depression or anxiety pills? Either way I think they left that MRI scene very open ended… maybe he has cancer, maybe he doesn’t? Tbh they probably aren’t 100% on how to end the series and havn’t completely ruled out the cancer thing.
Having said that, I still think it is fairly unlikely that the cancer will kill him… though maybe he will be caught, sent to jail, and die of cancer behind bars???
I think you are on to something with “Walter Jr will kill his father”. However, it might be Walter Jr death (probably via meth) that leads Walt to take his own life. Walt has largely managed to escape or face the consequences of his actions…no longer.
Walter Jr dying from meth… that sounds highly improbable??? Unless I am forgetting a pretty major BB moment, Walter Jr doesn’t do drugs. I very much doubt Walter Jr will be the one to kill Walt though it would be the most surprising option I can think of. I also think strangely that Jesse’s death would have more of an impact on Walt and lead him to take his own life, even if Walter Jr’s death (which I highly doubt will happen) did happen. Jesse’s death will certainly be the bigger moment of the two and will hit the audience the most. I also think Jesse’s death would make Walt feel super responsible (considering his entire life is kind of Walt’s fault now) and would be enough to make him consider taking his own.
I guess I’m channeling the Godfather. You can survive by being ruthless but you might not want to live with the hellish consequences. Yes, I agree, Jesse is his surrogate son and his death (from outside forces) would impact him almost as much as his own son’s death. However, Walter Jr. like his sister is completely INNOCENT unlike Jesse who chose this life. I keep coming back to the bear doll’s eyeball which is a metaphor that it is looking at a child killer. Jesse clearly sees the full circle when they gunned down the kid on the bike. Walt’s invited death before to protect his family. If he loses a child from the business (we know Gus had no scruples) he might make the connection too….
Yes, sure… if Walter looses a child he will either go and get full revenge or kill himself… or even likely both of these options. Still, it is kind of heavy for the end of the show… although Breaking Bad is the heaviest show there is. Walter Jr’s death is a possibility for sure, but I think Jesse’s death is the more likely option for the series to take, especially considering they were planning on doing this at the end of season 1.
That said, it is highly improbably that Walt Jr will die of meth, because they would have to introduce an entirely new side story for Walter Jr, and I personally don’t see this happening at all. There is a slight possibility that it may be the Ricin that accidentally kills Walter Jr- this would be a great parallel and a strange poetic justice seeing as Walt almost poisoned a child and now his own son will die of being poisoned. That said, these are all incredibly likely choices the creators could take but probably won’t. Especially as Walter Jr is barely even a supporting character in the series anymore.
Thanks though for your theories… I am sure like normal we will all be pleasantly surprised, shocked and horrified by the events of season 5 part 2.
I meant “incredibly unlikely” not likely.
I have thought for a while that Walt Jr. would get mixed up taking the blue meth with his buddy Louis and eventually dies/overdoses. Hank (who knows Walt is the cook) shares the news of Jr’s death and confronts Sr. Somehow after that Walt get killed. Whether it is him, some organized crime figure, or Skyler; Walt Sr. is dying in this series. It has been the premise since day one and the only way to gracefully end the series.
For the writer of this article, Walt may have had some affection for Jessie in the past, but since the end of season 4 and whole of season 5, Walt has just been using Jessie for his own means. He manipulated Jessie into breaking up with his girlfriend, manipulates his relationship with Mike. There’s no father-son bond there anymore.
I completely disagree with you. I understand where you are coming from, but there is still clearly a father-son bond between the two. Yes, he is manipulating Jesse more and more, but he manipulates everyone in his life. It is clear that he still loves Jesse, but who knows where the series will take this storyline.
Cannot wait for next year.
My predictions:
- Hank, shocked, leaves the bathroom, gets Marie and leaves. At home he puts it all together; the carwash, Jesse, Gus, Mike, Gale’s murder, the prison murders, the RV etc.
- Walt realises Hank is onto him and gathers money to escape. Hank arrests Skylar and takes Walt Jr and Holly away from him.
- Walt goes to Jesse and Saul for help. Saul gives him the name of the vacuum repairer/disappearer guy unseen in Season 4. Walt tells Jesse to skip town.
- Saul tells Jesse that Walter poisoned Brock.
- Walter kills Todd, effectively ending the meth production. Lydia is pissed. The dealers from Arizona or Czech Republic come after Walt for ruining their business/Todd’s neo-nazi uncle and friends come after Walt/Jesse comes after Walt/Hank and the DEA (or other government agencies at this point) come after Walt.
- Walt on the run alone stops at a diner to make a final stand. The dealers/neo nazi find him and he guns loads of them down before escaping. Hank tracks him down.
- Walt takes the ricin before he can be arrested. Skylar goes to prison. Jesse gets back with Andrea. Hank and Marie take custody of Walt Jr and Holly.
Actually my predictions suck. I hope Gilligan and the gang come up with a more epic Final Eight.
There are some interesting predictions here and I think you may be bang on about one them- if fact, I meant to include it in this list.
Breaking Bad has shown Walt so many times almost use the ricin and it has been a big part of the series… I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Walter took it at the end of the series and that is what kills him. He will almost definitely use it somehow, either on himself or others.
I do think however that Hank won’t be as quick to jump to conclusions and will probably keep what he knows to himself a little before putting the pieces together. Even then, I highly doubt he will end up arresting Skylar so soon… that said, they were almost definitely setting up in the first half of season 5 that Hank and Marie will eventually be Walt Jr and Holly’s parents… but I really don’t want to see Skylar to to jail for her crimes.
It is a very difficult show to predict now, and I am sure Gilligan will do something completely unexpected and cool. Thanks again for reading.
We share quite the similarity in what we think is going to happen. I like your thinking.
pretty good. I could see it going down like that, but of course, it’s highly unlikely to be able to guess all of this.
Hank can’t can’t do anything. From the outside looking in, Hank could look very guilty to investigators. It could appear that Hank has been helping his brother-in-law Walt rise through the ranks of the underworld while avoiding detection by the law enforcement. Killing Tuco, getting a warning about Tuco’s cousins, getting his bills paid, supplying Walt with crime scene photos… The fact that Gus was a booster for the DEA has taught them that they cannot trust anyone, even Hank.
And knowing Walt, he’ll help his brother-in-law come to this realization.
True this. However I don’t think Hank will be quick to react. He will at least try and make sure he knows for sure what he think he does. Plus, he would then have to consider whether or not to send half of his family to jail. He could even potentially just pretend he knows nothing… though this is unlike him so won’t happen.
But he will eventually do something, and Walt could very easily blackmail Hank knowing that if Walter goes to jail, he could easily lie and say Hank was in on it all from the start… which, like you said, would make sense to the DEA. Walter could even attempt to blame it all on Hank… Hank is bald after all and could be Heisenberg (though the DEA would unlikely believe this). Hank could even try and protect Walter somehow…
Either way, Hank has a very difficult decision to make, and I can’t wait to see his reaction when he walks back into the garden after going to the toilet.
You keep saying red hearing, it’s “red herring.” I’ve seen that typo at least three times so far in the article, it’s a bit much.
I actually keep seeing major typos throughout this site, you guys should hire an editor or something.
No, this is a big problem with the site, and unfortunately I myself am a terrible speller. There are a small amount of editors, but with an article as long as these and so many to process, a lot of mistakes get overlooked. I rely on spell check too much to be honest, though for the life of me don’t understand why I would spell it hearing not herring.
The this is very few people get paid here, and because of that I don’t take to much time checking the work. I will read it one or two times before sending.
Having said that, personally I don’t really care (I am not a spelling and grammar snob- but have done very very well in the past with English related subjects). As an opinion site, as long as you know what it was meant to say, it shouldn’t be too big a problem.
Thanks for reading though… and I am fully aware of this problem. I will try to check the spelling more in the future.
As you can see from above, I make typos A LOT :( I only wish they had been intentional.
Walter goes into hiding from Hank. He is supporting Skylar from a far. Thats why he had the fony id at Denny’s. He went back to New Mexico to kill the biker gang. He is dying of cancer so he stopped kemo. Hence his hair back.
Interesting predictions and while possible I think you are wrong, especially about going into hiding from Hank and supporting Skylar from a far. The fake ID is interesting, but if he is supporting Skylar from a far Hank would just arrest Skylar. Maybe Hank is dead at this point who knows? But I personally don’t see Hank dying. I guess it could really be any number of different possibilities.
walt recently got back his ability to grow back hair stated in season 4 by the docter and he only has the same look because he likes it and thats why i the showers he always has shaving cream on his head so he can keep his head a nice waxed looking type of bald and since hes obviousy on the run he does not have time to shave nor is he even able to to hide his identity although im sure he does stop kemo since hes no where near his hospital i dont think the hair is suppose to indicate that he has stoped kemo just to show he is trying to hide his identity
My personal theory, which admittedly I dont put a lot of faith in, is that Walter decides he’s “out” but the criminal organization that he has built up this season devoid of all personal emotional connections to him won’t let him just be “out”. While presumably Todd could run the manufacture side alright on his own, it might not be enough or he may not be as efficent, or maybe Todd gets got and Lydia and/or Declan try to drag Walt back into the fold.
Now that his organization is entirely devoid of people with personal connections with him, who might feel sympathedic or willing to compromise, Walt has surrounded himself with people as ruthless as he is, and they likely wouldn’t hesitate to do what they have to to keep production going. Walt doesn’t have friends in the business anymore, besides the terrified-of-him Saul and his gloriously inept A-Team. He’s lost Jesse, he killed Mike… even Gus was more lenient and patient than the people Walt thinks he now commands.
So he goes against the highly efficient and dangerous people who he’s replaced his friends with and it bites him in the ass. He survives, and maybe his family gets out of it alright, but for whatever reason he is split from them, maybe because of Hank cracking the case forcing Wat to go on the run (given the fake ID and the fact that it uses Skylar’s maidn name, he’s almost definitely on the run and definitely split from Skylar and the kids (Skylar wouldn’t use her own maiden name as an alias)). With no Walt to cook for them, Declan takes the OTHER one of the “two best meth cooks in the world”, Jesse and forces him into the role, either against his will or because Jesse knows Walt’s family will be targetted otherwise and he’s extremely self-sacrificing for kids and families regardless of his connection to them (see: attempted borderline suicide run against Tomas’s killers in S3).
Eventually Walt, now with nothing left, having run away from it all and/or destroyed everything, realizes Jesse is the prisoner of the Phoenix gang, so he returns, purchases the machine gun, and goes on a suicide-by-shootout run to save Jesse.
That’s my running theory, but honestly I’d love to see an alliance of Jesse and Hank or Jesse and Skylar in the final 8 working towards some end, regardless of how that leads to the end, because the scenes where Walter’s two compartmentalized lives collide are my favorites.
Thanks for this, and actually I agree with most of what you said. I don’t think the Phoenix gang will take Jesse prisoner… I think Jesse is completely out… but I can see them pressuring Walter and Walter realizing he has to someway get rid of them as a threat. Walter is definetely apart from his family in the opening scene of season 5, but because he purchased the machine gun, he is likely headed back for some reason or another to make one last stand… probably something involving Jesse- I wouldn’t say it is for the reason you said but this isn’t completely unlikely I suppose.
Still, good predictions and I’d be suprised if you weren’t at least right about one or two of them. Thanks for reading :)
I don’t think Jesse is completely out, even though he wants to be. He’s one of only two characters that has been in every single episode, and I don’t think he’s going to spend the last 8 episodes sitting at home playing Xbox.
Criminy, I thougt this article was going to give some insight. None of these 5 senerios are likely to happen. Hank won’t arrest Walter and none of the bleak outcomes suggested are consistent with Walters uncanny ability to outfox everything thrown his way…even cancer! Lydia’s the new Ace in the Hole, she’s the new Gus. Don’t fool yourself into thinking she’s not calculated enough to knock off Hank and co. keep the gravey train running. lydia is pulling the strings, and guess what? that whole up-tight persona is just an act. She’s Yin to Walters Yang and together they make beautiful music and several love children together! This is the only possible outcome!
At the beginning of season 5 walter has hair (when you make a scene of 52nd birthday with bacon and showed fake ID waitress for a free breakfast), my gues is that Walter will try to live anonymously.
remember ppl vince only has 7 HOURS left…walter was into lydia checkin her back off out i reckon its going to be a cliffhanger ending to leave everyone pissed off and wanting more…i reckon a big twist is in order!! walt comes out and him and jesse reveal the secret ingredient is anal entrails;}
bb 4lyf baybe
That is the best prediction yet! I’d actually be impressed if that happened!!!
I have thought of all those possible scenarios…even including Skylar killing Walt; which would be a mercy killing and somehow make up for her own criminal behavior. I personally think it’s going to come down to Hank arresting him or being forced to shoot him in a stand off. Maybe that’s too obvious? Don’t know. Can’t wait to find out.
-Hank is going to set up a case
-Skyler sees an opportunity to get away from Walt and wants to testify against Walt
-A big part of the operation gets arrested and some flip
-Walt thinks of a plot to kill the witnesses
-Walt believes he has to kill Skyler at some point (remember, Walt is not entirely reasonable at times, remember him killing Mike? and one a second note, Walt killing Skyler could explain for the bacon in the restaurant. Remember how Walt always picks up the traits from people he kills? Remember how it always was Skyler who broke the bacon?)
-Jesse gets arrested but doesn’t flip and takes 20 years or so .
-Arizona guys want to keep selling the blue stuff but Walt refuses to give the recipe so they try to get Todd but Walt kills him before they can get him, making them very pissed off
-Walt makes the call for a superdeluxe airfilter
-Arizona guys get to Jesse in prison to get the recipe but he refuses, Walt is in hiding so Jesse can’t reach Walt, Arizona guys kill Jesse in prison
-Walt goes on massive shoot out with Arizona guys, killing them all.
-Walt slips up and police spot him near the scene and taking him to the bureau.
-They find his past a bit suspicious and check up on him.
-They figure out he is Heisenberg
-Walt gets death penalty
-During his medical one of the docs says “You used to have cancer right?” Walt: “*cough* Yes” Doc “Well not anymore, guess you can call that luck”.
-End
Yeah!
While I could see Hank not doing anything, at least initially, Walt flipping wouldn’t make sense. Their not going to spend the last half of the final season turning Walt into some hero with him, Hank, and their families riding off into the sunset. Besides, the gun guy has already been in a previous episode. He sold Walter the 38 snub in season 4. He has nothing to do with drugs or the Meth business so there is no angle with him that would interest the DEA.
Anyone consider Skylar killing Walter to put them both out of their misery?
That’s reallllly unlikely. Skylar’s pulled away from crazy criminal things rather than embrace them. Just knowing that Walt has killed people is enough to cause like repeated breakdowns in her for like, the entire first half of the season. It’d be out of character and extremely unsatisfying. How would she even find him, when he’s halfway across the country with a fake name?
Actually, I’d predict that Skylar’s already dead by the time we catch back up to the season premiere flash forward. Walt doesn’t even have enough emotion left to be arrogant. He’s like, emotionally dead in that scene. Seems like he’s lost some people close to him, one way or another.
By the end of season 5, Walt has accumulated too much (im)moral baggage too have a happy ending for him feel right to many viewers. He crossed the line irreversibly in my mind with the shooting of Gale Boetticher. Then the final killings of 9 witnesses in jail…just too much. The ending that what would be symmetrical and satisfying to me would have him get convicted and sentenced to life in prison…where he becomes a teacher of chemistry/science once again; teaching basic science to inmates so they can get their GEDs. Beautiful symmetry, that. I would feel content watching that.
This is what I imagine.
Every beginning to a new season there’s always some sort of teaser.
What’s the teaser this time? I imagine it goes back to the future, somewhere BEFORE the Denny’s scene. I can picture it being something with Walter’s home with cops being on the scene to his house that’s completely destroyed with bullet holes all over it as his family got gunned down from outside.
Hank will keep his mouth shut about Walter, but the death of Walt Jr, Skylar, and Holly will break his heart and with cops on the scene at Walter’s home they will now know Walter is Heisenberg and Hank will be effed as well.
I believe seeing Walter being all chocked in the future is because he has no one left. Nothing left. He is a loner and reality is he knows he can’t get anything he used to love back and he cannot begin a new life. At a point, he will realize there are two choices. 1. He can either live feeling that way or 2. He can die.
He is going to want to die.
He will feel like he deserves to die also, but he will want to die by helping those who he lost and or cared for or still cares for. Lets not break character here, when Walter knows he is dieing he gets creative. Right? Walter will bring down the empire he help create to free those whoever is still in danger. He will gun them down. The cancer is definitey back and once again he will get creative by doing whatever he “thinks” is best before he dies.
The guy selling him the gun says “good luck I guess.”
This is the line we should be analyzing. The guy selling him the gun knows what he plans to do. “Good luck I guess.” Sounds like Walter is up to no good but more like something he just “has to do.”
Walter is sacrificing himself to bring down the bad guys. We are literally going to see Walter get shot to death.
This isn’t a show of happy endings, this is a show of tragedy.
The only happy ending is we will see Jesse get away free while being all chocked up about the news of Walter’s death. This will show us how much he cared for Walter and that will be a happy ending for the audience to see how much Jesse truly appreciated Walter. It will have some sort of good feel to it.
Walter will leave Jesse a note in his mailbox before he does the shootout, the note saying the truth about everything and that he’s sorry that he Fd up everybody’s lives but that he’s the only person still alive that he considers family and he wishes him the best in his life. And that these guys won’t be after you anymore, that he doesn’t have to hide from them anymore.
The End.
Hank will be in jail (from hiding the truth about Heisenberg), Marie depressed, Walt Jr dead, Skylar dead, Walter dead. Jesse free. Saul free (cuz he’s Saul.)
My predictions.
Hank will get the DEA together to bust the operation. The guys who run the operation will get together to silence the agents. Walter buys the big gun to mow his competition down and save all the agents. He gets a free ride for giving them all the information he knows. They put him and his family under protective custody and they move some place nice. His cancer returns and they live out the rest of their lives in peace and Walt dies a natural death. His family uses the money they saved up and everyone remembers walter for his dedication to his friends and family and how he paid the ultimate sacrifice with his own life in the end. Black screen – Walter Monologue “God works in mysterious ways” “If you believe in that kinda stuff”
Did you even pay attention to the opening scene of season 5′s first episode? Walter had a new name and wasn’t even living in New Mexico anymore. Witness Protection Program?
I doubt this very much, but it would be an interesting turn of events.
The way that the writers aren’t denying possible future seasons or a movie, I don’t think Walter is going to die . . . unless they do a terrible spin off where Walt Jnr takes over the meth business.
I think Witness Protection is a good guess . . . that’s how he becomes Hal from Malcolm in the Middle
There isn’t going to be a movie.
Been watching some of the last episodes over and over, so here’s my crazy addition to how it all may end:
This may have been a red herring, but we know that Gus himself was not who he said he was. We know that he was supposedly from Chile, but the DEA cannot find any trace of him in Chile, and Mike assured Gus that his real identity could not be found. What if Gus is part of a really powerful, wicked family, say, with the last name of Pinochet?
Now, fast forward to the meeting between Walt, Mike, Jesse, and the 4 guys from Phoenix. Walt “Heisenberg” proudly states to the Phoenix gang that it was he who killed Gus. Now, imagine this little bit of info spreading like wildfire throughout the drug world.
Enter the Pinochet cartel (or whatever the name/gang is), who seek revenge. All because Walter opened his big arrogant mouth and bragged about killing Gus. This new cartel/gang take Walt’s family hostage (or perhaps just Skyler) to bring Walt in. They have to do this because Walt has obtained a fake identity and is in hiding from the DEA and Lydia’s hit man because of course Hank is about to nail him after a couple of episodes of the cat and mouse chase, and Lydia wants him dead before he kills her.
Desperately, Walt purchases the M60 automatic rifle and whatever else is in the trunk of that car. After a shootout (in which Jesse is involved because Walter asked for his help – and keep in mind that Jesse has become quite good at using guns, which was evidenced in the shootout in Mexico), the White family is saved. At the same time, Hank has been persistently, doggedly tracking Walter, and also becomes involved in the shootout, and may personally be the one who saves the family and/or Walt. Jesse may also have a key role in saving the day, and perhaps will die as a result of this. Walter, stricken with grief, perhaps takes the Ricin, which he now carries with him everywhere. He has, by the way, discovered that his lung cancer is back, so suicide seems like the preferable way out. After the battle, Hank reluctantly, sadly arrests Walter. There is no proof that Skyler was involved, and she is released. Walt flips and ends up revealing much about the meth business, and we also see at the end that Lydia is behind bars. Perhaps her daughter will be adopted by Skyler or Hank and Marie.
I love the idea of the last scene being Walt teaching chemistry to fellow prisoners, perhaps repeating the chiral molecule lesson, if he is still alive.
In rewatching the scene where Walter brags about killing Gus Fring to the Phoenix gang, I noticed that Mike shakes his head immediately after the admission. Mike knows who Gus Fring is, and I am thinking he shook his head at that point knowing that this admission could mean big trouble down the road for Walter.
what if it was never really meth? what if it was something different, a different drug?