After explaining that showrunner Vince Gilligan had told him that the writers originally planned to kill off Jesse at the end of season one, Paul revealed that co-star Bryan Cranston frequently used this information to convince him his character was done for.
“He came up to me the first time he did it and just gives me a really long, exaggerated hug. He’s just not letting me go [and I’m like], ‘What’s going on?’” Paul said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, man, it’s been a fun ride.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘I thought you read the script, right?’ [I was like,] ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘Oh,’ and then he just walks away. And I run into the production office, and I’m like, ‘Where’s the script?!’ And they’re like, ‘It’s not available yet,’ and I’m like, ‘Please, god, tell me.’ And then I read it and I was alive still.”
Paul went on to recount another instance where Cranston pranked him into thinking Jesse was not long for this world.
“There was another time where they did a fitting [and said], ‘We need to measure you for the coffin.’ [I’m like,] ‘A coffin?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, you don’t know about it?’
Write to Megan McCluskey at [email protected].