Less than two weeks remain before the Breaking Bad season 5 premiere on July 15. Here’s a roundup of the newest teasers for the final anticipated season.
Laura Fraser Joins Cast in a Significant Role
Scottish actress Laura Fraser will be introduced as an “important” character in the second episode, according to EW. Series creator Vince Gilligan reveals the new character Lydia is a “former associate” of Gus Fring’s who is “integral” to the narrative of season 5. Will Lydia be friend or foe to Walter White? If she has any allegiance to Gus, we’re betting on the latter. Gilligan also shared that Fraser’s character will be someone who is “nervous about her place in the world.” This sounds very ambiguous; feel free to decipher what you can from that.
Fraser has appeared in films such as A Knight’s Tale, Titus and Casanova. She will be joining Jesse Plemons (of Friday Night Lights), who will be playing a “seemingly helpful young man” (yet another elusive description).
Bryan Cranston Talks New Enemies and the Season 5 Premiere
In an interview with MTV, Bryan Cranston (three-time Emmy winner for his work as Walter White) shared his thoughts on the demise of Gus Fring in the season 4 finale (“I didn’t see it coming”) and how that will shape the plot for the final season. “It’s almost like starting anew,” said Cranston. “It’s a brand-new story line as far as developing other adversaries.” (So there will be new adversaries. But who? And will they be on par with the bone-chilling mastermind Gus?) We know this season will be the darkest, craziest one yet, and Cranston confirms this notion by saying, “There will be more people who will perish this season. Quite a few more.”
But not to worry–there will be some moments of well-placed humor, too. Cranston describes the first episode as “funny, intellectually curious and stimulating.” As opposed to the shockingly violent season 4 premiere (RIP, Victor), “this premiere is nonviolent.” When pressed for more details, Cranston couldn’t say much, except to add that the opening teaser is “so bizarre.” Much like the teasers we’ve heard, “It tells a lot–and it doesn’t tell anything.”
Anna Gunn Describes the Season 5 Pace, Her Character’s Transformation and the Corruptibility of Hank
Unlike the slowly escalating momentum of past seasons, Anna Gunn (Walt’s wife and partial partner-in-crime) reveals season 5 is a “pretty rapid rise the whole way… It just goes full tilt from the get-go” (according to The Wrap). Gunn praises the writers in outdoing themselves time and time again: “Every time you think they’ve maybe reached the peak, there’s more.”
Though the focus of the show is on Walt’s thorough evolution into a frighteningly powerful drug lord, Gunn believes her character Skyler has undergone her own internal transformation. According to the actress, Skyler hit a turning point when she decided to stay with Walt and not turn him into the police. “She’s such a practical survivalist that she thinks, ‘If I’m staying, I’m gonna make it work,'” says Gunn.
Going into season 5, that survival instinct will start to bear repercussions–“She’s trying to stay strong, she’s trying to keep the lie straight,” Gunn tells WetPaint. But Skyler is “so trapped” by the maze of her and Walt’s deception that we will see her “really start to break.” As Walt’s sometime-ally “starts to unravel,” this could mean more trouble for the White family.
With everyone slipping down the immoral path, Walt’s DEA brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris) seems like the only incorruptible one left. Gunn agrees with this opinion, saying Hank has an “even stronger sense” of morality than her character did. “The difference between right and wrong for him is a very solid line,” she says. At the same time, “anything can happen on this show.”
Lastly, Gunn said the dream of creating a Breaking Bad movie would be “amazing.” Here’s hoping her support means it’s just a little more likely to come true.
(Images courtesy of WENN and AMC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jenn grew up in Ohio before moving to Seoul, Korea, where she attended international school and failed to learn Korean. From there she went on to earn a BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania before settling in Seattle, where she now spends too much time pondering the power of narrative in TV shows and novels. While she loves a good smart comedy (a la Community or Parks and Recreation), her favorite current show is Breaking Bad; all-time mentions include Arrested Development, Lost and Friends. When she’s not consuming television or literature, she’s savoring pastries and searching for the city’s ultimate sandwich.
