Sam Amico
Along with riveting viewers worldwide, Breaking Bad very much brought New Mexico to the forefront during the show’s five seasons.
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That’s because the entire series was set in Albuquerque. The same goes for its spinoff, Better Call Saul, which served as a prequel.
You already know the stars — Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad, and Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul.
But did you know those shows almost weren’t set in Albuquerque? It’s true, as series creator Vince Gilligan told the New Yorker he originally had another setting in mind. Very much so, actually.
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“I got really lucky that the production guys at Sony said to me, when they read the pilot episode of Breaking Bad, ‘What do you think about shooting it in Albuquerque?’ And I said, ‘Well, guys, as it says on the page, I set it for Riverside, California, the Inland Empire,'” Gilligan recalled. “They said, ‘Yeah, we get that. But New Mexico has this rebate they’re giving filmmakers. It’s a much sweeter deal financially than anything Southern California’s going to offer us. And the reason that’s good for you is you effectively have a larger budget with which to make your show.'”
Gilligan still wasn’t entirely sold on the idea. Not at first, anyway.
“I thought, Yeah, but really it should be California. Because that’s what I had in my head,” he said. “But then I realized the sad truth is that there’s a meth business — many of them, in fact — in all fifty states. So I thought, Why not New Mexico? It was a very meat-and-potatoes, dollars-and-cents decision. And it turned out to be the greatest thing creatively.
“We did save a lot of money over the years, but the best thing about that decision was that it allowed us to shoot in this amazing cinematic landscape in and around Albuquerque. It’s a very striking, beautiful place, and it makes me think of all the great Westerns I love.”
Eventually, Gilligan came to realize that New Mexico is very much a part of what made Breaking Bad — and later, Better Call Saul — so special.
“It was a great boon to us when we realized, ‘Hey, we can make this thing a Western, a contemporary Western,'” Gilligan said. “The show wouldn’t be the show without New Mexico.”
