--- title: Breaking Bad: How Bryan Cranston Pranked Aaron Paul description: Aaron Paul regaled fans with a hilarious behind-the-scenes story during Breaking Bad's 10th-anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con. canonical: https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-20T15:09:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:16.237Z og:title: Bryan Cranston Pulled Meanest Prank on Aaron Paul og:description: No one was safe from Heisenberg when they were doing Breaking Bad og:url: https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c2243ed8aa9d0d/698854b8e20a873252a8bda0/breaking-bad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1867 og:image:height: 1050 og:image:alt: breaking-bad og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bryan Cranston Pulled Meanest Prank on Aaron Paul twitter:description: No one was safe from Heisenberg when they were doing Breaking Bad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c2243ed8aa9d0d/698854b8e20a873252a8bda0/breaking-bad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bryan Cranston Used to Pull the Most Walter White Prank on Aaron Paul During _Breaking Bad_ > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=90d4e166-344c-4fda-83c1-687db884eef6&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 20, 2018 3:09 PM UTC  Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) on Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) on Breaking Bad Frank Ockenfels—AMC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 20, 2018 3:09 PM UTC Not only did [Aaron Paul](http://time.com/4657850/aaron-paul-price-is-right/) dress his baby daughter up in a [mini hazmat suit](https://people.com/babies/aaron-paul-daughter-breaking-bad-costume-comic-con/) for [_Breaking Bad_‘s 10th-anniversary](http://time.com/5094038/breaking-bad-walter-white-transformation/) panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, but he also regaled fans with a hilarious behind-the-scenes story from the award-winning drama. After explaining that showrunner [Vince Gilligan](http://time.com/5342957/breaking-bad-vince-gilligan-walt-jr-kill/) 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.”  Aaron Paul (L) and Bryan Cranston speak onstage during the 'Breaking Bad' 10th Anniversary Celebration during Comic-Con International 2018 on July 19, 2018 in San Diego, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images 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?’ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/"},"headline":"Bryan Cranston Used to Pull the Most Walter White Prank on Aaron Paul During Breaking Bad","datePublished":"2018-07-20T15:09:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:16.237Z","description":"No one was safe from Heisenberg","url":"https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","breaking bad","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c2243ed8aa9d0d/698854b8e20a873252a8bda0/breaking-bad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c2243ed8aa9d0d/698854b8e20a873252a8bda0/breaking-bad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"breaking-bad","caption":"Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) - Breaking Bad _Season 5 - Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels/AMC","creditText":"Frank Ockenfels—AMC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5344106/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-prank/","name":"Bryan Cranston Used to Pull the Most Walter White Prank on Aaron Paul During Breaking Bad"}}]}] ```