Walter White Surviving The End Of Breaking Bad Would Have Ruined 5 Different Storylines

Although Breaking Bad’s writers considered several alternate endings, Vince Gilligan ultimately came up with the perfect way to conclude the series. It was bittersweet; Walt faced the deadly consequences of his actions, but he managed to find some twisted version of peace beforehand. But since Walt only got shot in the belly and didn’t actually die on-screen, there was a theory that he survived. This theory became so popular that Gilligan included a news report confirming Walt’s death in El Camino. This is for the best; if Walt had survived, it could’ve ruined Breaking Bad’s story.

5 The Reason Walt Broke Bad In The First Place

Walt’s death paid off the reason he broke bad in the first place. After being diagnosed with lung cancer and told he only had a short time left to live, Walt decided to start cooking and selling meth to make enough money to ensure his family would be taken care of when he passed away. This put a ticking clock on the series; the entire story was building up to Walt’s untimely death.

In the first episode, on his 50th birthday, Walt was told he had two years to live. Exactly two years later, on his 52nd birthday, he was killed by a gunshot wound. In the end, it wasn’t cancer that killed Walt, but his projected death did come to pass. If Walt had survived, the Breaking Bad finale would’ve lacked this poetic irony.

4 Walter Would Have Never Paid For The Characters He Killed

Throughout the five seasons of Breaking Bad, Walt killed a lot of people and got even more people killed. He killed Mike, he ordered Jesse to kill Gale, he watched Jane die and did nothing to stop it, he invited Jack and his gang to come and kill Hank and Gomez, and he had all of Mike’s guys shanked in prison in the space of two minutes. After causing all that death and devastation, it was fitting that Walt himself would die at the end of the story.

Walt’s death was his comeuppance for all the deaths he was responsible for. If he’d survived, he might’ve been taken to prison, but he would’ve lived on. If Walt wasn’t killed, he never would’ve paid for the deaths he caused.

3 Walt's Last Stand Against All His Enemies

Walt’s return to Albuquerque was his last stand against all his enemies. In Breaking Bad’s penultimate episode, “Granite State,” after being told to drop dead by his son, Walt realized he had nothing to live for and called the police to turn himself in. But after seeing Gretchen and Elliott diminish his accomplishments in a TV interview, Walt decided he still had some old scores to settle and headed back to New Mexico.

Throughout the final episode, Walt has no plans for the future. He has the Schwartzes living in fear, he poisons Lydia with her favorite sweetener, and he slaughters Jack and his neo-Nazi gang. It’s a suicide mission; he just wants to get his money to his family and exact revenge against his enemies.

2 Walter Had Become An Irredeemable Monster

At the beginning of Breaking Bad, Gilligan famously set out to turn Mr. Chips into Scarface. Walt was first introduced as a mild-mannered high school teacher who seemingly wouldn’t harm a fly. But by the end of the series, he’d become an irredeemable monster who didn’t think twice about poisoning a child, blowing up a nursing home, and kidnapping his own daughter.

Walt’s survival would’ve come off as a redemption arc of sorts. But by that point, Walt didn’t deserve redemption. By the time the Breaking Bad finale rolled around, death was the only fitting conclusion to Walt’s arc.

1 Walt Sacrificed Himself To Save Jesse

Although it’s never explicitly stated on-screen, it seems as though Walt was planning to kill Jesse along with Jack and his gang when he went to their compound in the Breaking Bad finale. As far as Walt knew, Jesse had partnered with Jack to keep selling his signature blue-tinged product in his absence. However, when Jack brought out Jesse and Walt saw that Jack was keeping his former partner as a meth-cooking slave trapped in a hole in the floor, he had a change of heart.

Walt often manipulated Jesse throughout Breaking Bad, but he did really care about him. When the bullets started flying, instead of hitting the deck as planned, Walt jumped on Jesse and shielded him from the gunfire. This meant that Walt ended up taking the bullet that killed him. If Walt had survived that gunshot, then his sacrifice for Jesse would’ve been less impactful.