Every Version of Breaking Bad

An Original That Spawned Its Own Universe

Breaking Bad began as a wholly original idea. Vince Gilligan pitched it to AMC in the mid-2000s as the story of a man who transforms from a good person into a bad one. He described the concept with a phrase that became famous in the writers' room: "Mr. Chips becomes Scarface." There was no source novel, no comic, no true-crime case behind it. The show premiered in January 2008 and ran for five seasons, ending in September 2013.

The universe kept growing after that. The writers' room had developed a supporting character, Saul Goodman, into something rich enough to carry his own series. Better Call Saul ran from 2015 to 2022, ultimately earning a reputation as the equal of the original. Then in 2019 Netflix released El Camino, a feature film that picked up the story of Jesse Pinkman the night he escaped the compound. A mobile game followed in 2012, a few years before the series even ended.

The universe is compact by franchise standards. There is no sprawling book series, no animated adaptation, no theatrical stage production. What exists is small in number and consistently serious in ambition.