Drew Sharp (sportswriter)

''Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western crime drama franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan, primarily based on the television series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), its prequel/sequel series, ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–22), and its sequel film, '' El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie'' (2019). The following is an abridged list of characters from all three.

Main characters

Cast table

Introduced in ''Breaking Bad''

Walter White

Walter Hartwell White (also known by his clandestine alias Heisenberg) (played by Bryan Cranston) is an underachieving Albuquerque, New Mexico high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, starts manufacturing methamphetamine to provide for his family upon his death. Knowing nothing about the drug trade, he enlists the aid of his former student, Jesse Pinkman, to sell the meth he produces. Walt's scientific knowledge and dedication to quality lead him to produce crystal meth that is purer and more potent than any competitors'. To avoid the tedious collection of pseudoephedrine required for production, Walt devises an alternative chemical process utilizing methylamine, giving his product a distinctive blue color. His crystal meth, which is given the street name "Blue Sky," dominates the market, leading to confrontations with established drug makers and dealers.

Walt is initially squeamish about the use of violence, but gradually comes to see it as a necessity. He also comes to find his new status as a drug lord psychologically rewarding, leading him to become increasingly willing to resort to criminal acts such as theft, extortion, money laundering, depraved indifference, and murder. Walt's descent, Macbeth-like, into the criminal underworld unearths immense levels of deeply repressed ambition, rage, resentment, vanity, and an increasing ruthlessness which alienates him from his family and colleagues.

Skyler White

Skyler White (née Lambert) (played by Anna Gunn) is Walter's wife. She has had several meager sources of income: writing short stories, selling items on eBay, working as a bookkeeper, and ultimately helping her husband launder money. Skyler and Walter have a son, Walter Jr., and an infant daughter, Holly. Skyler loves Walter very much, but their marriage becomes increasingly strained due to his unexplained absences and bizarre behavior, ultimately leading to their separation. Later, once Walter reveals his operation, she aids him in laundering his funds. They buy the car wash where Walter had recently moonlighted. Although she helps Walter, she remains deeply unhappy with the overall situation. As Walter slowly becomes more of a "hardened criminal," her emotions of fear and worry for him become increasingly prevalent. When in the episode "Buried," Skyler's DEA brother-in-law Hank tells her he is on to Walt but needs her help to provide sufficient evidence to build a successful case, Skyler replies that she needs a lawyer and later tells Walt they should remain quiet. In the episode "Breaking Bad" of ''Better Call Saul'', she is mentioned to have gotten a plea deal with the prosecutors.

Jesse Pinkman

Jesse Bruce Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul) is a small-time methamphetamine user, manufacturer, and dealer. In high school, he was an indifferent student in Walter White's chemistry class. Now in his mid-20s, Jesse is Walt's business partner in the meth trade. Jesse is impulsive, hedonistic, and uneducated beyond high school, but he is financially ambitious and streetwise. He talks in playful slang, likes to wear garish clothing that follow the latest trends in youth culture, plays video games, listens to rap and rock music, takes recreational drugs, and drives lowriders. Walt treats Jesse like a foolish son in constant need of stern correction. Jesse's own family kicked him out of their house because of his drug use. Despite the friction between them, he and Walt have a deep bond of loyalty. As a result of his relationship with Walt, Jesse becomes an excellent meth cook, ultimately leading to his exploitation by others. Despite his criminal lifestyle, Jesse is far more empathetic than Walt. He is horrified by the brutality at the higher levels of the drug trade particularly during later seasons, but remains involved with Walt out of necessity. He is very protective of children; his desire to keep children out of the violent drug world gives rise to several key events throughout the series. He wrestles with feelings of guilt about the deaths, all drug-related, of people he has been associated with. Towards the end of the fifth season he is overwhelmed by guilt and his "blood money." Realizing how much pain he has caused for money leads him to attempt to give bundles of cash from his final payoff to people he knows and then throw them from his car window onto random lawns and porches. In '' El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie'', Jesse departs for a new life in Alaska.

Hank Schrader

Henry R. Schrader (played by Dean Norris) is Walt and Skyler's brother-in-law and Marie's husband, who works as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. He is involved in investigating a meth dealer known as "Heisenberg," unaware for over a year that his prey is actually Walter. Hank has a cavalier exterior, but in reality the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit leading him to have anxiety attacks from post-traumatic stress. In the course of his work, Hank is promoted to El Paso, Texas from Albuquerque for a short time but experiences a traumatic event and moves back to Albuquerque. Despite his brashness, Hank is highly competent at his job and cares deeply about his family. Hank is eventually promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in Albuquerque but is still determined to solve the "Heisenberg" case, which ultimately leads to his demise.

Hank also had guest appearances in the fifth season of ''Better Call Saul''. When Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina is arrested, Jimmy McGill bargains with Hank to make Domingo his confidential informant, which allows Lalo Salamanca to feed information on Gus Fring's operations to the DEA for the DEA to then act on.

Marie Schrader

Marie Schrader (née Lambert) (played by Betsy Brandt) is Skyler's sister, Hank's wife, and Walt's sister-in-law. Marie works as a radiologic technologist. She does not hesitate to offer advice to others but often fails to practice what she preaches. She shoplifts compulsively—apparently a manifest symptom of kleptomania—a behavior for which she sees a therapist. She appears self-centered and shallow but cares deeply for her husband and her sister's family. Nearly all of her household and clothing items are shades of the color purple.

In Season 3, Marie becomes a major source of comfort and support for Hank, when The Cousins shoot and nearly kill him. With Walt and Skyler's help, she arranges for Hank to undergo an aggressive physical therapy program their insurance does not cover. When Hank stubbornly decides to stay at the hospital, claiming he is completely disabled, she refuses to give up on him and gives him a handjob to prove he still has feeling below the waist. When he returns home, however, Hank remains cold and brash, despite her attempts to make him comfortable, and Marie spirals back into kleptomania. Once Hank progresses with the case, his relationship with Marie improves again. When Walt and Skyler have marital problems, she takes in their children for a couple of days at Skyler's request while they work things out.

In the final season, Hank tells Marie about Walter's criminal activities, and Marie confronts Skyler. When she learns Skyler knew the truth before Hank's shooting, Marie slaps her sister and storms out of the room. She tries to take Holly with her, but Hank commands her to return the baby. She then urges Hank to "get" Walter. Marie helps Hank try to stop Walt and Skyler, but Walt foils them when he makes a DVD framing Hank. Marie eagerly offers to help Hank when Jesse agrees to confess about Walt's crimes. She initially does not know that Hank is dead and reconciles with Skyler on the condition that the latter tells Walt Jr. everything. Marie learns that Hank is missing when Walt kidnaps Holly and eventually she receives confirmation he has died. She is later seen two months later in her house, now with blue instead of purple trim, warning Skyler to watch out for Walt.

Marie reappears in the series finale of ''Better Call Saul'', present as a witness in the trial of Saul Goodman. Prior to the trial, she castigates Saul for his role in Walt's crimes and the deaths of Hank and Steve, but Saul claims to have been coerced to work for Walt under threat of death. Saul later reverses course during the trial by admitting he willingly helped Walt expand his criminal empire.

Walter White Jr.

Walter Hartwell White Jr. (played by RJ Mitte) is Walter and Skyler's teenage son and Holly's older brother. He has cerebral palsy, as manifested in speech difficulties and impaired motor control, for which he uses crutches (which Mitte, who has a milder variation of cerebral palsy, does not require). Angered by his parents' constant fighting, Walter Jr. tries to establish an independent identity, insisting on being called Flynn and asking his best friend Louis to teach him how to drive. When he discovers that Walt has cancer, Walter Jr. changes his attitude and sets up a website, "www.savewalterwhite.com," which requests and collects donations in an effort to help pay for Walt's cancer treatment. Walt's lawyer, Saul Goodman, arranges for a wave of fictional "donations" drawn from Walter's drug money, in order to launder it and also make Walter Jr.'s efforts appear successful. When Skyler and Walt separate, Walter Jr., given no explanation by either parent, only sees that his mother has (from his point of view) inexplicably thrown his terminally ill father out of the house, and he takes his father's side and stops answering to the name Flynn. Always being "late to the game" (as defined by Mitte on an episode of ''Talking Bad''), Walter Jr. remains oblivious to his father's drug trade life until "Ozymandias," when Marie, confident that Walt is in Hank's custody, forces Skyler to reveal the whole truth to her son. Upon learning of his father's connection with Hank's death, Walter Jr. mistakenly concludes that Walt killed Hank. Feeling betrayed Jr. calls 911 when Walt fends off Skyler's knife attack, thus forcing Walt to leave and eventually end up on the most wanted list. In " Granite State," Walt attempts to talk to him over the phone and have him retrieve $100,000 that Walt planned to send to Louis' address; however, Walter Jr. angrily refuses and hangs up. In " Felina," Walt visits Skyler for the final time, and watches from afar as Walter Jr. returns to the safe house from school.

Saul Goodman

Saul Goodman (played by Bob Odenkirk), real name James Morgan McGill, is a sleazy lawyer who acts as Walter and Jesse's attorney and provides some of the series' comic relief. He uses the name "Saul Goodman" because he thinks his clients feel more confident with a Jewish lawyer; this name is also homophonous with the expression " ts all good, man." Dressing in flashy suits, Saul maintains extensive connections within the criminal underworld and serves as a go-between connecting drug distributors, evidence removers, impersonators, and other criminals-for-hire. Despite his flamboyant appearance and mannerisms—punctuated by his outrageous low-budget TV commercials—Saul is a highly competent lawyer who is able to solve problems and find loopholes in order to protect his clients. He is also reluctant to be associated with violence or murder.

Saul's background is explored in ''Better Call Saul'', taking place about six years before ''Breaking Bad''. Originally a con man nicknamed "Slippin' Jimmy", he had been arrested in Chicago after a prank gone wrong, but his older brother Chuck McGill, a partner in an Albuquerque law firm, obtained his release on the condition that Jimmy obtain legitimate employment. Jimmy worked in the mailroom of Chuck's firm, and Chuck's legal success inspired Jimmy to become an attorney himself. Chuck did not consider Jimmy a "real" lawyer and surreptitiously conspired to prevent him from joining Chuck's firm, relegating Jimmy to low-level cases and public defender work. After Chuck's death and Jimmy's yearlong suspension of his law license, Jimmy returned to practice under the "Saul Goodman" alias, drawing on the criminal clientele he had gained through his side business of selling disposable cell phones. During the period of his law license suspension, Jimmy's side business causes him to inadvertently become involved in the Albuquerque drug business as an associate of Mike and a legal representative for the Salamanca family.

By the time of ''Breaking Bad'', Saul has established an office in a strip mall and advertises across the city. He works with Gus to help protect Gus' drug business. When Walter and Jesse begin producing meth, Saul introduces them to Gus as a potential buyer for their product. He subsequently helps Walter and Skyler launder their drug money, and provides legal assistance for Jesse and his drug-dealing friends. As the falling out between Gus and Walter unfolds, and Hank discovers Walter's identity as Heisenberg, Saul uses the "disappearing" services of Ed Galbraith to relocate to Omaha, Nebraska under the name Gene Takavic (as shown in flash-forwards in ''Better Call Saul''), where he runs a Cinnabon store while remaining paranoid that someone from his past might identify him. Gene is eventually identified by a relocated taxi cab driver who remembers his Saul Goodman ads, but Saul keeps the man quiet by offering to make him wealthy using a con scheme. Saul was eventually caught by the authorities and imprisoned for 86 years in a federal prison, but after finally accepting himself as Jimmy McGill and atoning for his role in the deaths of Chuck, Howard, and others.

Gus Fring

Gustavo Fring (played by Giancarlo Esposito) is the Chilean-born proprietor of Los Pollos Hermanos, a highly successful fried chicken restaurant chain. He is also a public booster for the local DEA office and a member of the hospital board. Despite outward appearances, Gus is a major drug kingpin initially affiliated with the Mexican drug cartel in Ciudad Juárez, who use his restaurants as a front for methamphetamine distribution throughout the American southwest, supported by Los Pollos' corporate owners, Madrigal Electromotive. Like Walter White, Gus is a criminal who "hides in plain sight," using his anti-drug philanthropy to conceal his true nature.

As shown in flashback in the ''Breaking Bad'' episode "Hermanos", Gus and his business/romantic partner Maximino Arciniega had approached the cartel with the offer to produce and sell meth for the cartel, but Don Eladio had Hector Salamanca kill Max as punishment for insulting Eladio, then forced Gus to participate in distributing cartel cocaine. Emigrating to the United States, Gus appeared acquiescent but secretly plotted to exact revenge on Hector and eliminate his dependence on the cartel by producing his own meth via a "superlab" hidden beneath an industrial laundry. During the events of ''Better Call Saul'', Gus allies with Mike when Mike finds his own family at risk from the Salamancas, and turns Nacho into a mole within the Salamanca organization after discovering that Nacho caused Hector to have a stroke by secretly replacing Hector's heart medication with fakes. Wanting to be the agent of Hector's death, Gus pays for Hector's recovery but only to the point where he has recovered his mental faculties and can move his right index finger. Gus seizes more of the drug trade from the Salamancas, but when the cartel sends Lalo to replace Hector, Gus is forced to make sacrifices to protect the developing meth lab and Nacho's status as his mole. Gus arranges an assassination attempt on Lalo, but Lalo secretly survives and begins hunting for evidence of Gus' culpability. Gus realizes Lalo is alive and takes extreme security measures to protect himself. He ultimately kills Lalo in a shootout at the lab's construction site, and has him buried beneath the lab's foundation.

By the events of ''Breaking Bad'', Gus has gained most of the Salamanca drug business, and produces and distributes meth instead of cocaine, but still seeks independence from the cartel. He has completed the superlab and plans for Gale

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