“Breaking Bad” is one of the most beloved and award-winning series in history!

It won over fans all over the world (myself included), it won 16 Emmys and two Golden Globes during its 5 seasons.

But it wasn’t that way from the beginning: In the first few seasons it wasn’t a big hit and was almost cancelled. But when it premiered on Netflix, it gained fans and so, it was renewed until its end.

In the last two seasons, the audience quadrupled – and the production even entered the Guinness World Records book as the most acclaimed in history.

The series tells the story of Walter White, a public school teacher, who works two jobs, his wife is pregnant with an unplanned second child, has a sick child and discovers she has a inoperable lung cancer – and this is all just the first episode!

With that, Walter decides to manufacture methamphetamine, a super strong drug that only has chemicals. As he is a chemistry teacher, he knows how to manufacture.

His initial idea was to leave some money for his wife when he left, but something happens that he did not foresee: his cancer begins to heal with the treatments and, instead of stopping the criminal world, he decides to continue because he saw that that it gave money and power, things that he always wanted and never had.

On this journey he has the help of a former student named Jesse Pinkman, a drug addicted boy, but after being blackmailed by Walter, he decides to get into this mess.

Walter still needs to hide everything from his brother-in-law, who is also his best friend, named Hank. And what is Hank’s profession? Drug Enforcement Officer!

The series is full of humor, drama, deaths, losses and feelings. We realized that the more money Walter earns, the more he loses the respect and love of his family, which was his starting point.

“Breaking Bad” is a masterpiece, and it almost could have been completely different!

Discover 10 curiosities (with lots of SPOILERS) from this fascinating series:

1 – VINCE GILLIGAN WAS THE WORST

Vince Gilligan, series creator

Vince Gilligan, series creator and former “X-Files” writer, was unemployed when the idea for “Breaking Bad” came up – and it was by accident. While talking to a friend, he said that to get out of the situation he would need to do methamphetamine in a van. Is very familiar, isn´t?

So, Gilligan decided to have the protagonist start the series as a humble professor, inspired by Mr. Chips, character from Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).

In the end, the audience would see the character transform into the anti-hero.

2 – SCREENWRITERS’ STRIKE HELPED “BREAKING BAD”

Hollywood suffered a big blow between 2007 and 2008 because of the screenwriters’ strike. Because of this, the first season had seven episodes, but originally there would be nine. By cutting time, very important characters, like Jesse and Hank, are no longer killed.

Gilligan has said in interviews that he would kill Jesse to cause Walter regret, as he was the one who called the former student to manufacture drugs

But the interaction between Walter (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) was so strong, that as he had to take some time off due to the screenwriters’ strike, Gilligan ended up changing his mind.

When Aaron Paul won a Golden Globe for his role as Jesse, in his speech he blurted out, “Thank you Gilligan for not killing me!”

3 – THE SERIES ASKED THE WALKING DEAD FOR HELP

Who doesn’t remember the inonymous death of Gus Fring? Him leaving the room of the asylum where Salamanca was with that sensational makeup? This was a challenge for the “Breaking Bad” makeup team, who weren’t used to such advanced productions.

The solution was to turn to the team that makes the prosthetics from “The Walking Dead” to help develop Gus’ makeup after the explosion. Between makeup, filming, reshoots and special effects, that single scene took months to develop!

4 – DIFFICULT FAREWELLS

In the episode where Jane is killed by White at the end of season two, Jesse has to wake up and face his dead girlfriend. This scene was very painful for both Paul and Cranston, who said he cried for 15 minutes after shooting it.

Another farewell that rocked everyone was the death of Mike. On the day the scenes involving the end of Jonathan Banks’ character’s trajectory were filmed, the entire cast on set wore black armbands as if in mourning.

Nobody wanted to say goodbye to one of the most beloved names in the series! The actor even said that everyone cried at the time.

5 – ACTORS LEARNED HOW TO MAKE METHAPHETAMINE

The key to a well-told story is often verisimilitude. How, then, to tell an arc around a drug cartel run by a chemist who is extremely capable of cooking methamphetamine without the actors knowing how to do it? This is where the United States Division of Narcotics, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) comes in.

US Drug Enforcement actually taught Bryan and Aaron how to cook methamphetamine!

In addition, they had the help of a professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Donna Nelson, so they wouldn’t talk nonsense.

6 – THE FAMOUS ROOF PIZZA SCENE WAS UNINTENTIONALLY

Do you remember the episode where Walter tries to win back Skyler’s sympathy, but in the end it all ends badly and he gets angry and ends up throwing the pizza on the roof?

The idea was to throw in anger, only.

It could be at the gate, on the floor, wherever. But, no one knows how to this day, Bryan made the box fall to the floor and the pizza fly straight to the roof of the garage!

Yes: This scene was not in the script and was done in one take!!!

Walter White’s house from the series actually exists and was rented for 5 years for the recording of the series. So whenever a fan passes by the house, they throw a pizza on the roof!

Vince Gilligan, creator of the series, has already recorded an interview asking fans to stop doing this, as it bothers the real residents of the house too much.

7 – THE SERIES TO HAVE 62 EPISODES IS NOT A COINCIDENCE

Although the creators of the series revealed that 2 episodes were cut at the end of the 1st season, the total of episodes that tell the story of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman is 62, spread over 5 seasons.

As nothing in “Breaking Bad” is free, there is an explanation for this: in the periodic table, 62 is the number of Samarium, a substance used to treat cancer, including lung cancer, which White suffered.

“Breaking Bad” is not just a series, but a work of art.

Everything was done with a lot of work, affection and love for all its team and it deserves to be the great success it has become.

And you? Do you love “Breaking Bad” too?