Breaking Bad creator calls for more TV heroes: ‘Real-life bad guys are running amok'
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has called for more inspiring and heroic characters to be portrayed on television, saying: 'We are living in an era where bad guys, the real life kind, are running amok.'
The 58-year-old screenwriter, who also created Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, spoke after accepting the highest prize at last night's Writer's Guild Awards, the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement.
Variety reports that Gilligan announced early in his speech that he'd decided to 'go political.'
He continued: 'Obviously, I'm here because of Breaking Bad and Walter White. I'm proud of that character, and I'm proud of that show...
'Walter White [...] he's one of the all time great bad guys. But all things being equal, I think I'd rather be celebrated for creating someone a bit more inspiring. In 2025 it's time to say that out loud, because we are living in an era where bad guys, the real life kind, are running amok.
'Bad guys who make their own rules, bad guys who, no matter what they tell you, are really out for themselves. Who am I talking about? Well, this is Hollywood, so guess.
'But here's the weird irony. In our profoundly divided country, everybody seems to agree on one thing. There are too many real life bad guys. It's just that we're living in different realities. There's no simple answer for how we might change that. Though, if it were, I bet it would have something to do with climbing up out of the cess pool of social media and actually listening to each other.'
Gilligan went on to urge his fellow screenwriters to 'write more good guys.'
Citing various examples of film and television anti-heroes, Gilligan said: 'For decades, we made the villains too sexy. I really think that. When we create characters as indelible as Michael Corleone or Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader or Tony Soprano, viewers everywhere, all around the world, they pay attention. They say, 'Man, those dudes are badass. I want to be that cool.'
'When that happens, fictional bad guys stop being the cautionary player that they were created to be. God help us, they become aspirational. So maybe what the world needs now are some good, old fashioned, Greatest Generation types who give more than they take. Who think that kindness, tolerance and sacrifice aren't strictly for chumps.'
Gilligan cited the example of the firefighters who tackled the recent devastating Los Angeles fires as good guys worth venerating.
'I look at the men and women who risked their lives putting out the recent fires in Southern California,' he said. 'Or the ones who gave so much of themselves feeding and sheltering the victims of those fires. Wasn't it nice hearing about actual heroes for a change?'
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