It’s difficult to imagine anyone besides Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, but it’s not impossible: At one point, Penn Badgley was able to imagine himself as the staple “Breaking Bad” character.
The “Gossip Girl” and “You” star reportedly came pretty close to usurping Paul during the casting process, which could’ve permanently associated Badgley’s career with the unlikely moral center of “Breaking Bad” and his signature overuse of the B-word.
Badgley told THR in 2023 that Jesse was “the one that got away” and reflected on his “Breaking Bad” audition during a 2025 appearance on the “Not Skinny Not Fat” podcast with Amanda Hirsch.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.imdb.com ’
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