Hollywood was shocked yesterday when the news broke that former Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte, best known for playing Walter Jr in the Emmy-winning drama series, had passed away. Mitte’s death was confirmed to have been a suicide, with fans and former co-stars posting tributes to the actor. Across the series, Mitte not only earned recognition for his performance but for using his platform to raise awareness for others with disabilities. He was even awarded the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award in 2013.
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As Breaking Bad fans grappled with the sad news of Mitte’s passing, comments from the star published just one week before his death took on a new light. In an appearance on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, Mitte opened up about his hopes to one day return to the role of Walter Jr in a story set after the events of Breaking Bad. Mitte noted that even though the last episode was technically an ending, it wasn’t one for Walter Jr., his mother Skyler, or his sister Holly. “I think that was really the end of Heisenberg’s journey, but I don’t think that was the end of (their) journey. I think there’s a lot of unanswered questions there that, for them, will probably never be answered. I think there’s still a big step for the White family….There’s always more to be told.”
RJ Mitte Hoped to Return to Breaking Bad Role
As Breaking Bad fans may recall, the series finale of the show revealed the circumstances of Walter Jr., Skyler, and Holly in the months after Walter White’s crimes were revealed to the world. Forced to move out of their home and into a small apartment, the trio were not only estranged from Skyler’s sister Marie, but had very few confidants or allies. Though Walt tried to arrange for them to have a better life in the aftermath of his last hurrah (he dropped off a fortune of money to his former partners and told them to launder it for his family), there’s no guarantee that really happened. Furthermore, the bar for quality with Breaking Bad is already very, very high.
“You got to tell it right,” Mitte said about the potential for a follow-up story. “I want to top Breaking Bad; that’s the hardest. I set a bar for myself as a young man that that that is kind of unobtainable. I tell people, I say, ‘Look, it’s a long way down from the top of the mountain.’ It’s a great view, but you can’t always stay up there forever. And so, you eventually have to find that next mountain. And so, whatever that next mountain is, I hope it’s even taller.”
Mitte then went on to reveal that as much as he loved his work in the series itself, it was what came after that made him feel the most fulfilled, saying: “I think really where I felt the most top of the world is being able to help others with Breaking Bad…All the philanthropy work I’ve done with SAG-AFTRA and the cities and the states and in different countries and with the work I’ve done with people with disabilities and equal opportunity employment…That’s really the greatest thing that Breaking Bad has given me is to be able to lend my voice to causes that make a meaningful impact and change people’s lives.”
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