Walking the line with Breaking Bad

Writer and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan credits AMC?s hands-off approach with allowing him to fully explore the dark and often violent landscape surroundingBreaking Bad's central figure, played by Emmy winner Bryan Cranston.

In front of a packed audience at BANFF 2010, Gilligan discussed the struggles of ?crossing the line? with the characters. He joked that the genesis of the show was based on his own unemployment issues after the end of the X-Files. Although Gilligan saw the potential for his darkly comic series - the story of a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher who turns to making crystal meth in order to support his family - it was rejected by both HBO and Showtime before finding a home at the then fledgling AMC.

A packed audience heard Gilligan discuss casting and the issues he and his team have wrestled with in terms of storylines, killing off characters and the larger issues of morality that continue to evolve on the show. Admitting he wasn?t sure when and where the show would end, Gilligan was adamant that he wants to go out before the show has overstayed its welcome.

And the fate of Walter White? Gilligan isn?t sure yet, but if the last three seasons are any indication, it?ll be intense, poignant and probably, darkly funny.

Kevin Fraser