Image via AMC
Like many actors, Penn Badgley has had “a bunch” of roles come and go over his career, but he claims that Breaking Bad was the hardest role to lose.
In a recent interview on BuzzFeed’s The Puppy Interview, Badgley acknowledged that he had tried out for the part of Jesse Bruce Pinkman, one of the show’s main characters.
“One I got so close on was Breaking Bad,” he said when asked about some of his most surprising auditions. “It was between me and Aaron Paul. We tested. And actually that was the best television script I’d read at that point. That was the one that got away.”
If Badgley had landed the role, TV might have been very different. His breakthrough performance came in the September 2007 premiere of the adolescent drama Gossip Girl on the CW. Just a few months later, Breaking Bad made its FX debut, indicating that Badgley would have had to decide between the two shows.
Paul received numerous honors for his five-season portrayal as Pinkman, including three Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Years after the series’ conclusion, Paul admitted he wasn’t sure he would get the part since he thought Badgley had a look that was more appropriate for a meth cook or dealer.
“Right when [Badgley] walked in, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that guy looks like a meth addict.’ In a good way!” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2020. “He was just in the role. I was like, ‘This guy is going to steal it from me. But after the test, it took about two weeks to finally let me know.”