‘Breaking Bad’ Star Aaron Paul: Jesse Is ‘Absolutely’ A Better Human Being Than Walter

Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul said that even though his character Jesse Pinkman has some bad deeds under his belt, he is still a better person than his mentor and former teacher, Walter White (Bryan Cranston).

In an interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the AMC drama’s series finale, the 34-year-old said that Walter has always had a dark side.

“I think Walt always had Heisenberg deep inside of him,” he said. “It’s like the expression, ‘Money doesn’t change people, money just shows who people truly are inside.’ I think this has always been a part of Walt.”

Paul said that Jesse was trying to be someone he wasn’t, and that even his clothing reflected his internal struggle.

“That’s why at the beginning – at least this is what I tell myself – he’d wear these crazy clothes – oversized pants, shirts, sweatshirts. He was kind of hiding in his own skin,” Paul said.

“And then throughout the years, he’s realizing more who he truly is,” he added. “His clothes started to shrink as he got his own footing. The clothes definitely started getting darker, because he was feeling in a very dark place.”

The Emmy Award winner also said that the murder Jesse committed (Gale Boetticher) weighed heavily on his conscience.

“Obviously Jesse is a murderer, so he’s not that great of a guy. But he didn’t want to be,” he said. “He was kind of pushed into a corner. He pulled the trigger. Obviously that’s no excuse, but I think the audience knows that’s not really who he is.”

Although Jesse is still struggling with killing Gale, Aaron Paul said there is one character he wants to send on a trip to Belize.

“God, I want Todd to die so bad,” he said. “Before we shot the final eight episodes, I used to say, ‘I want Jesse to kill Todd, and I want Jesse to kill Walt.'”

Spoiler alert ahead. Don’t read if you haven’t watched Sunday night’s episode.

In Sunday’s episode, “Ozymandias,” after his Uncle Jack kills Hank, Todd negotiates for Jesse’s life and says that they can get information out of him. He takes Jesse to a warehouse where he chains him to a pulley system and tells him to cook. There’s a picture of Andrea and Brock stuck to one of the vats.

End spoiler.

Aaron Paul wasn’t sure Jesse would be able to handle having more blood on his hands.

“But then, as we were shooting the final eight, I was like ‘Maybe I don’t! Does Jesse want to have that on him?’ I don’t know.”

He also said that he was relieved not to have to play the character anymore, because Jesse has had a hard life.

“He has gone through a lot of torment, and so much sadness. And playing him, I went through that as well on a very intense level,” he said. “So a big weight was lifted off my shoulders, in a way. But slowly lifted off, as the months go by. But with that said, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

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