A Few Predictions for ‘Breaking Bad’ Season 5

AMC’s first teaser trailer for Breaking Bad hit yesterday, and Bryan Cranston couldn’t be more charming — which is amusing considering how full-on Heisenberg he’s become. The gang is shown on set in the video, promising craziness for the upcoming fifth season, which can’t get here soon enough. Past the break, we’ve made a few quick predictions about the future of Walter and the crew. Hit up the comments section to share yours, and check out the clip. Let’s all cross our fingers that Vince Gilligan nails a date in July before we go nuts with anticipation. Warning: Spoilers galore.

1. Walter Jr. will eat a lot of breakfast

Sorry we couldn’t resist. So far RJ Mitte’s Walter Jr. has been a voice of reason and the only thing holding what’s left of his family together. He’s also served as a foil for the audience’s thoughts and feelings, saying all the things we’re probably shouting at the screen in our living rooms. We’re not sure if he’ll end up aiding dad in some kind of brilliant revenge tactic or helping to turn him in (possibly inadvertently), but we do know that he loves pancakes.

2. Walter’s new lab will be somewhere inside the car wash

Walt torched the laundromat in a blaze of glory, so in theory, he’s going to need a massive new lab craft his meth. We can see Walt taking over Skyler’s business venture, since the whole thing was really just a tax front to begin with. Since Skyler handed over their fortune to smarmy Ted, Walt’s going to need to get back in the business to make a lot of money — and fast.

3. Walter will win Mike onto his side

Mike’s fate was unknown at the end of season four, but we figure after Jesse saved his life after being shot by the Juarez cartel, Mike’s not going to toss the kid aside just because Gus is gone. Walt will be smart enough to convince Mike to join their side through Jesse, whom Mike has grown closer to since working together. (Jesse inspires the father/son mojo in everyone, apparently.) We also think Mike admires Walter’s cunning abilities — and really pities him. Even so, Mike could have changed his view on Walt after he took out Gus, possibly considering Walt as someone who’s a lot more dangerous than he initially thought.

4. There will be a reckoning between Walter and Jesse over Brock (Andrea’s son)

Walt let Jesse’s girlfriend die in a pool of her own vomit, and he’s gone full Heisenberg, so we’re pretty sure he poisoned Brock. There were too many clues leading up to the confrontation between Jesse and Walt that pointed to this — the Lily of the Valley plant and the gun spinning scene being the biggest giveaways. Walt would do anything to protect his family, including turning Jesse against Gus so he could manipulate a takedown on his own terms.

5. Walter will die, possibly of cancer and not in a blowout worthy of his reputation

The real-life Heisenberg died of cancer at home, and Breaking Bad has more than proven that there are no true happy endings. We can totally see Walter crafting some insanely genius Rube Goldbergian setup to ensure that everyone gets their comeuppance after he’s dead. Whether Jesse remains an ally or not, we can imagine Walt setting things up for Jesse so he can live a good life, returning to all the “apply yourself” talk from the early seasons.

6. Hank will figure out Walt is Heisenberg immediately before or after Walt dies and won’t reveal his identity

Hank’s a competent agent, but he genuinely cares about Walter and his family. He’s also not a perfect guy himself, enjoying his share of “forbidden fruit” (at least when it comes to cigars) and cruelly antagonizing a tweaker prostitute in order to teach Walter Jr. a lesson. He’s going to take Walter’s alter ego with him to the grave.

7. Saul will survive everything

Because cockroaches always do.

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I love this show in spite of the fact that some of the "incidents" require a bit of a leap in imagination. The one issue that still bugs me, though, is HOW did Walt administer the berries to the little boy? We know he's getting better - has anyone at the hospital asked where he found these berries and why he decided to eat them? Are we to believe that Walt broke into their house and planted them in some food, or offered them to him outside of the house? These are both stupid ideas, but no one has yet offered a plausible way this poisoning was administered. Any ideas?

Badger and Skinny will get their own sitcome where they'll eat funions and un-sliced pizza while debating complex issues (zombie video games, star wars, etc.). The show will be a hit with 15-30 yr old unemployed men living in the Humboldt county area of Northern California.

no ones talking about ted. before he died he filled in a cheque with 600 odd thousand and addressed it to walts wife. that was then ripped up and put in the bin. So when the police come to investigate ted death they are likely to find that cheque in the bin. Not an easy one to explain away i imagine.

Does anyone else think that maybe Walt has been lying about his recent medical reports? He says that he is still in remission, but we never actually have heard his doctors tell him that. I think that his cancer has started to spread to his brain, the same thing that happened to Jesse's aunt. Jesse told Walt about the time that he and his aunt had an opossum in their house. After they got rid of it, his aunt continued to believe that it was still around the house. In episode 10 of season 3, "fly", after Walt and Jesse finally kill the fly after hours of trying. Then when Walt goes home, he continues to hear the fly buzzing around him. This may or may not be proof that his cancer is spreading. But it could just be because he has been hearing a buzzing fly for the past day, and the sound is still ringing in his ear.

Gus just went down to Mexico and took out the entire head of the Mexican cartel, but the cartel is hundreds, thousands of people. Right after Gus gets bombed along with a cartel member. Unless Walt or Jesse talk, Mike's first thought would probably be that other members of the cartel took out Gus as quick revenge. Walt's a pro at lying, so I think Walt and Jesse will play innocent about it and leave Mike thinking the cartel killed Gus. Gus could be sneaky, but generally he was direct and to the point. He also had loyal enforcers under him that allowed him to be. Walt's style is pretty much always about lying and manipulating others with his lies. He kinda had to be though since he didn't have a crew of enforcers like Gus to carry out his task. My overall prediction of season 5 is that the tension and build up towards the end will be a systematic breakdown of all Walt's lies coming undone on him. Skyler will learn some of the darker things he's done, Jesse will figure out Walt has played him to the point of putting his life at risk countless times, Mike will learn some dirt....etc.

Series 5 will ramp up the villians and the scale of meth production following the same trajectory of the program as seen from series 1. Every series has seen Walt and Jesse deal with nastier villians and produce more meth. Gus's German bosses must make an appearance with or without Mike's assistance, more must come out about Gus's Chile past and there must be more mexican villians to appear.

Ian do you honestly think Vince Gilligan would give a definitive spoiler like that? Use your brain. And everyone suggesting stupid stuff like 'hail of bullets' must be perfectly fine with watching the same old same old we've seen in about a hundred movies so far, so what's the point of this TV show then? Finally, I love the use of "alone and miserable" together so often by pundits. Yes because Skyler and the rest of the gang on the show are so wonderful, if you're not with them, you must be miserable.

Don't forget Vince Gilligan has said more than once that Walt will die by the end of the series. The cartel may have lost the battle, but not the war, so I expect them to be a presence, even if only on the periphery. I agree that Mike will side with Walt, if for no other reason than he has nowhere else to do. Jesse may wind up as the biggest loser. He's always gotten the short end of the stick. The idea that Hank may finally catch on to Walt's activities after it's too late to do anything about it makes sense. I also thought that the car wash would be the most logical place to establish a new lab. Los Pollos Hermanos is partly owned by the German conglomerate, so they'll probably find someone to take over. I hope their role, as well as Walt's past, are finally explained. The one thing that has always intrigued me is why Walt is a high school teacher, when his background suggests he's at least sufficiently qualified to teach at the university level. They've never revealed his academic credentials beyond discussing his work with Eliot. Were they working on a doctoral thesis together, or a masters dissertation? Did the falling out occur before Walt had completed his research with Eliot? They have 16 episodes to tie up the loose ends, so I expect they will, or they'll leave a LOT of unhappy fans, beyond those who are sorry to see the show end . . .

If I've learned anything as a fan and viewer of THE most epic dramatic series in the annals of American television it is that the writers behind Breaking Bad will ALWAYS outwit us all. I don't think there the concept of suspense has been done this kind of justice since the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Vince Gilligan has said that Walter White will die by the end of the series but whose to say that this "death" is not a "flash forward" into the future the way that Michael Corleone died at the end of Godfather III thus killing off the character but giving ample room for a possible movie to "fill" in the space between what concludes the television series but still leaves enough enexplored territory for any number of possibilites? Think about it...

@Serge I don't really think Jesse has any blame in Jane's death. He never pushed a damn thing on her, she was the one who went full on crackhead after just a taste, he was just there for the sex. Walt is the one and only who deserves any retribution for her death.

THE WRITERS OF THE SHOW ARE BRILLIANT AND FULLY AWARE OF ALL THE CLICHES so YOU CANT EVEN IMAGINE WHICH ROAD THEY WILL TAKE AND WHICH THEY WILL AVOID.IT WILL BE TOTALLY UP TO THEM TO DECIDE WHICH STUFF SHOULD BE DUG UP AND WHICH SHOULD BE BURIED. P.S I am looking at your "predictions". What you do? asked a ten-year old to predict season 5. MICHEAL BAY is not behind this show.OK?

I think everyone is right about the cartel being "gone" for the most part. Any of the ones that had association with Gus, anyway. He had the head hancho that he was working with executed in his house a couple seasons ago and then the mass posining last season. I really think Walt, Jr will have more of a storyline and end up either totally with Walt or totally against him helping Hank nail him to the wall. I hope they clean up the Walt/Skylar dynamic because they have let that story line come to a weird stand still. Hank will for sure find out and if Walt is to lives, I think he will agree to help him, at first, due to being crapped on by the DEA, as some sort of revenge but in the end will do the right thing. I think they are going to do something with Jessi out of left field that no one sees coming! They have set up way too much of his past/back story not to use it. So, maybe something to do with his family/brother and I think his girl will betray him. I think Mike will come back, but I doubt he will want anything to do with Walt...Jessi maybe, but not Walt. Saul will continue to be a rat until the end and will probably spend much time cleaning up the mess with Ted because Skylar just had to get him involved in that. I think Ted is going to be the key to catching Walt. They are going to find Ted and Walt will be the first one they talk to because of the affair. As far as cooking again, OF COURSE they are going to cook again! It is still Breaking Bad, of course. Just some ideas, but I can't wait for it to come back no matter what happens=D.

Jesse taught the cartel how to make the stuff in Mexico. So if Walter starts up again he's gonna be targeted. Mike will clearly enlist with him because he's lost his salary, which I think he'd say to be $10,000 per week, from Gus' death. And what will happen to los pollos?

Walt will have his cancer return if you caught the hint last season. I don't see Walt and Jesse working on meth together anymore and in fact wouldn't surprise me if Jesse starts his own cartel now that he knows how to cook on his own by Walt's method. Hank will find out about Walt and will be interesting to see what he does. Walt might get crazy and think he can cook again but I doubt it. There is still plenty of money and he does own the car wash so if he does cook again that will be a good place to cook. With Gus and the Mexican Cartel gone who is doing the work for the Cubans now? All I know for a fact is that season 4 ended on a high note and hopefully season 5 will be better.

@ Ian, no, some people say that he or bryan cranston said this, but really, all that happened was bryan cranston said he had a strong hunch about it. So we don't know. I would avoid youtube though cause theres this guy who says his cousin works on the set, and he gave out a plotpoint. probably just trolling but id stay away anyway.

Niciole, agree. There is no guarantee that Walt will die as he journeys down the dark path to scarface. A cool cliffhanger ending would be Jesse holding Walt's life in his hands and being responsible for deciding if Walt will die or live. What I want to see in season 5 is more depth to the domestic action. Hank, Marie , Skyler and Walt jnr need more compelling dialogue and more involvement in the action. The downside at the end of season 4 was the sitting around and cliche dialogue.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Vince Gilligan confirmed that Walt will die at the end of the series, whether from cancer or other factors? I feel i read that, could be wrong though. My prediction is that by the end, Walt will have given up due to circumstances, and he'll finally confess to Jessie all that he's done to him (Jane and poisoning the child)) and I think Jessie will kill him. I find that would be fitting, because jesse has really represented the innocence of the show and how that's been tainted.

Breaking Bad has started every season pretty much where it left off. I think that continues with season 5. The explosion at the nursing home spurs a big response from the law enforcement community. Walt leaves more traces than he intended, and reports surface of a middle aged bald white man meeting with Tio the day he blows himself up. Hank hears this, and noticing that Walt was MIA all day, finally starts to suspect Walt. This spurns Hank to secretly investigate his brother in law, running into dead ends but will keep investigating Walt due to his hunch. Meanwhile, Gus has more of an organization that we know about, and ends up having an "in case I die" plan in which orders are placed for someone to kill both Walt and Jesse. Walt and Jesse get wind of this and desperately search out for Mike, who is still missing and is the only one with enough influence to call off the hit.

Jesse must die by Walt hand... and then the circle is complete...

Some notes * Vince Gilligan vision was Mr.Chips becomes scarface, with that in mind I see his death involving a storm of bullets in either a great mansion or better yet out in the boonies, alone by himself on a fold out chair. * Jesse not sure, Walt has made him a stronger man, through him he met Andrea, it all came at a terrible price and Jesse still doesn't know Walt has killed and harmed the women he's loved. Loyalty is unsure. * Come on hank has to find out, the whole chase these last 4 seasons, all those buildups, gotta happen. *I don't see it happening but I would love to see more done with the boeing 737 crash, Donald Margolis deserves justice. Those events are sprinkled throughout the show but it lost a lot of focus early season 3. Walt and Jeese to some degree killed 167 people, something's got to be done about that.

I think a fittingly epic and tragic way for Walt to go out would be in a hail of bullets as the fully realised Heisenberg bad-ass. Some interesting ideas here though they really could take it in any direction they want and it would be gold. Hank has to find out at some point, and I'm looking forward to seeing how that moment plays out with such brilliant actors.

#5 actually seems like as happy of an ending that this series could get. Think about it... Walt dies peacefully, he sets things up so his enemies suffer and his loved ones are well-off. There's nothing dark about that at all. @everyone else, I doubt that any cartel will act as a serious threat to Walt this season. Gus killed off "the" cartel last season, and now that Gus is dead, Walt's gonna be at the top of the drug trade. Any other cartels will probably just nibble at Walt's feet, while the big threat will be Hank. @Brian, I agree. I'd love to see a flashback episode that covers all of Walt's life prior to the start of the series. Gonna add my own prediction to the list: The season will begin with Walt's 51st birthday, taking place exactly one year after the pilot episode.

You guys are wrong about Walt dying. Since the begining, the show is constantly showing us that he is getting better from the cancer. He thought he was done for and needed money, so why not become a criminal? It was meant to have an expiry date. Once the cancer is gone, Walt will be left with everything he has done and will have to deal with the choices he made, never knowing he would have to live with them.

I hope they reveal more about Walter's past. They touched on it in Season 3 (as I remember) but I'd love to know the ultimate reason as to why he became a high-school teacher, and gave up a promising career in research.

Donald Margolis is alive and either much psychiatric evaluation, he goes home and figures out somehow what really happened to his daughter and goes after Jesse or Walt or both. Because no way they just let him off easily. I think his revenge has an impact on whatever ending there is.

If Walt dies, I don't see him setting people up. That means he will die still thinking he has "won" and I don't see that happening. He will either die alone and miserable or live alone and miserable.

@Lucy: I couldn't decide what to think about Jesse. There will definitely be something about the cartel attempting takeover — and they'll probably make Gus and Tuco look reasonable. :)

What about Jesse? Will he survive, triumph, take over from where Walt leaves off? Gus was a south American fugitive with a past he wanted to hide His bosses are going to claim what is theirs.