Walter White (Breaking Bad)

Walter White
Breaking Bad character
Bryan Cranston as Walter White
First appearance	Breaking Bad: "Pilot" (2008) Better Call Saul: "Breaking Bad" (2022)
Last appearance	Breaking Bad: El Camino (2019) Better Call Saul: "Saul Gone" (2022)
Created by	Vince Gilligan
Portrayed by	Bryan Cranston
In-universe information
Full name	Walter Hartwell White Sr.
Alias	Heisenberg
Nickname	Walt
Occupation	Drug lord Co-founder of Gray Matter Technologies High school chemistry teacher Car wash cashier, proprietor, and manager
Affiliation	Gray Matter Technologies Gustavo Fring's drug empire His own drug empire
Spouse	Skyler White
Significant other	Gretchen Schwartz (formerly)
Children	Walter White Jr. (son) Holly White (daughter)
Relatives	Hank Schrader (brother-in-law) Marie Schrader (sister-in-law)
Home	308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States New Hampshire, United States (Remote)
Nationality	American
Date of birth	September 7, 1958
Date of death	September 7, 2010 (aged 52)
Alma mater	California Institute of Technology
Cause of Death	Shot by his gun connected to the inside of the trunk of his car

Walter Hartwell White Sr., also known by his alias Heisenberg, is the fictional antihero^[a] turned villain protagonist of the American crime drama television series Breaking Bad. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston.

Walter is a skilled chemist who co-founded a technology firm before he accepted a buy-out from his partners. While his partners became wealthy, Walter became a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, barely making ends meet with his family: his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), and their son, Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte). At the start of the series, the day after his 50th birthday, he is diagnosed with Stage III lung cancer. After this discovery, Walter decides to manufacture and sell methamphetamine with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to ensure his family's financial security after his death. Due to his expertise, Walter's "blue meth" is purer than any other on the market, and he is pulled deeper into the illicit drug trade.

Walter becomes increasingly ruthless and unsympathetic as the series progresses, as the series' creator, Vince Gilligan, wanted him to turn from "Mr. Chips into Scarface". He adopts the alias "Heisenberg", which becomes recognizable as a kingpin figure in the Southwestern drug trade. Walter struggles with managing his family while hiding his involvement in the drug business from his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Although AMC officials initially hesitated to cast Cranston due to his previous comedic role in Malcolm in the Middle, Gilligan cast him based on his past performance in The X-Files episode "Drive", which Gilligan wrote. Cranston contributed greatly to the creation of his character, including Walter's backstory, personality, and physical appearance.

Both Walter and Cranston's performance have received critical acclaim, and Walter has frequently been mentioned as one of the greatest and most iconic television characters ever created. Cranston won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, three of them being consecutive. He is the first man to win a Critics' Choice, Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance. Cranston reprised the role in a flashback for Breaking Bad's sequel film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, and again in the sixth and final season of the prequel series Better Call Saul, making him one of the few characters to appear in all three, alongside Jesse Pinkman, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Ed Galbraith (Robert Forster), and Austin Ramey (Todd Terry).

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).