Every Time Bryan Cranston Played Walter White Outside Of Breaking Bad

“Breaking Bad” has gone down in history as one of the best TV shows of the 21st century, and a major part of that legacy is due to Bryan Cranston’s impeccable acting as Walter White. 

Cranston received many accolades for his performance during the show’s run — including four Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series — but he also ended up returning to the role of Walter/Heisenberg in various other works, including spin-off series “Better Call Saul,” comedy sketches, a spoof from one of the longest running animated TV series, and multiple TV advertisements.

Whatever your feelings about whether Walter was an antihero or truly became a villain, the character was incredibly compelling, so it’s no surprise that the character lived on in pop culture, showing up in works long after the end of “Breaking Bad.”

Below is a list of every time Cranston has reprised his role as Walter outside of the show that started it all.

Bryan Cranston appeared in the final season of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” prequel “Better Call Saul” in 2022, reprising his role as Walter White in Episodes 11 and 13 of Season 6. Fans will recall that “Better Call Saul” focuses on the life of Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman) prior to becoming a key part of Walter’s criminal activity in “Breaking Bad.” In these two episodes where we get to see Walter again, we now have the knowledge of how everything ends for the future drug kingpin.

In addition to guest-starring in the “Breaking Brad” prequel series, Cranston also returned as Walter for its sequel, 2019’s “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.”

Fully outside of the “Breaking Bad” universe, Bryan Cranston appeared in a Seth Rogen-led “Funny or Die” sketch titled “Seth Rogen = Worst Person in the World.” The 2013 sketch imagines what Rogen would become if he believed that one good deed could absolve him of anything. Rogen commits a series of crimes, including learning to cook the infamous blue drug from the master himself, Walter White. There’s also a pretty funny running gag of Rogen attacking actor David Krumholtz, seemingly playing himself.

Bryan Cranston hilariously reprised his role as Walter White in a 2016 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” where he was interviewed on CNN after being named the future head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) under the Trump Administration. The jokes pretty much wrote themselves as Cranston recalled being hired due to his connections with Steve Bannon and Breitbart News, then praised Trump for wanting to stop competition from coming in from Mexico. We even got Cranston referencing one of Walter’s most iconic lines from “Breaking Bad.”

“The Simpsons” has referenced “Breaking Bad” multiple times, but never more directly than in Season 24, Episode 17. Titled “What Animated Women Want,” the 2013 episode follows Marge as she launches a baked goods business with Bart and Homer, and the spoof comes full circle when the episode cuts to a shot of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul — as their “Breaking Bad” characters, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman — watching the episode on their own iconic couch.

Bryan Cranston has also appeared as Walter White in multiple TV advertisements. The first was a 2015 Esurance ad in which he appeared as a sketchy pharmacist. Then came the 2023 PopCorners commercial featuring Cranston and Aaron Paul as Walt and Jesse cooking up some delicious chips (instead of the usual blue crystal) in their RV. Walter’s most recent appearance came in a 2024 anti-littering campaign for New Mexico. “Keep litter out of my territory,” he warns in the ad titled “Breaking Bad Habits.” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham posted the ad on her official YouTube channel, as well as an ad featuring a warning from the Cousins in Spanish.