Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan on X-Files inspiration

Vince Gilligan's desire to work on a two-hand character study was inspired by his work on The X-Files where Mulder and Scully's relationship formed the crux of the drama.

"If I had worked on a different story, if I had worked on The Sopranos instead, Breaking Bad would have taken a very different shape."

Breaking Bad would have turned out very differently had the writer not found his two main protagonists, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), but Gilligan is quick to lay claim to other factors too.

"The year I spent cooking crystal meth helped, obviously!", he jokes when speaking to Hot Press "Sometimes I'm being facetious when I say 'write what you know'. I've never sold meth. I've never tried it - but neither had Walt. Walter White is very much a nerdy, middle-aged guy and I feel I can understand that. I can write to that."

Gilligan also spoke of the stress of coming up with the perfect conclusion.

"No longer is a finale merely a time to bid good-bye to the characters," he notes. "It's a representation of how the show reflects the world; the mirror the writers hold up to us as a society."

To read the full interview where Gilligan touches upon how Netflix played a major part in boosting the show's audience, a possible spin-off and some of the more out-there fan theories, get your copy of Hot Press from tomorrow, Thursday August 29.