For years, there has been a persistent rumor that John Cusack (Say Anything, Con Air) was up for the role of Walter White on Breaking Bad. According to the rumor, the actor ultimately turned down the role. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, however, Cusack decided to clear the air, revealing that he had never been up for the role.
Cusack remembered hearing the rumor during his conversation with Horowitz. “Some of those things are so weird, because there was this whole riff that I had turned down Walter White,” Cusack recalled. “And I never ever remembered that, and I was like, did that happen and I blacked it out? Did I lose time?”
He went on to say that he had actually asked Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan (Pluribus, Better Call Saul) whether or not he was up for the role, revealing that he had actually thought he might have forgotten an audition or meeting with the creator: “I met Vince Gilligan in New York, and I was like, ‘Hey, man, I love your show, it’s awesome. I gotta know, everyone is saying you offered me that — did you offer me that?’ He was like, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, Vince!’”
Famously, the role ended up going to Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Seinfeld), who won four Emmys for his portrayal of the chemistry teacher turned meth dealer. The series was recently hailed as the best show of the 21st century by The New York Times, and many have credited Cranston’s performance as one of the best in television history. It’s the type of role any actor would salivate over. Breaking Bad ended up lasting for five seasons, for a total of 62 episodes produced, with a spin-off film entitled El Camino concluding the story and a prequel, Better Call Saul, further expanding the universe of the series.