Smallscreen Features

Anna Gunn interview, new 'Breaking Bad' season a twisty affair

By April MacIntyre Mar 21, 2010, 21:50 GMT

Skylar sexes it up this season - Betsy Brandt and Anna Gunn - AMC\'s "Breaking Bad" Season 3 Premiere Screening - Arrivals - Arclight Theaters - Hollywood, CA. USA © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

The new season of showrunner/creator Vince Gilligan’s "Breaking Bad" on AMC is as much about Skylar and Hank’s ramped up roles in this compelling noir dramedy as it is of our antihero, cancer stricken Walter (Bryan Cranston). 

It is a season of paying the piper for Walter’s profitable yet illegal side life that has alienated his beloved wife, confused his son Walt. Jr. and raised questions with his law enforcement brother in law Hank, who is closer than he realizes in finding the area’s legendary meth making King who is churning out the most sought after product by unscrupulous drug dealers.

Tonight's premiere (directed by the Emmy-winning star Bryan Cranston) is visually stunning in cinematography for a TV show.  The brilliant opening scenes features no dialogue, just the actions of two Mexican hit men (Daniel and Luis Moncada), who are captured in a Santa Muerte ritual as they crawl on the dirt toward a shrine, setting in motion a clock ticking on Walter’s life.

At the past  winter press tour, Cranston carefully alluded to the season’s tone and action by telling Monsters and Critics that Walt was firming up his new identity. “He is embracing the criminal life he skirted in season one, Walt’s lost a great deal, and now is throwing himself into this new life and will continue to keep existing in this criminal world he has put himself in.”

Anna Gunn sat down with Monsters and Critics at the Pasadena Langham over a steaming bowl of Butternut squash soup and shared her character Skylar was breaking out and reclaiming her power as a woman.

“This season, Skylar is protecting Walt. Jr. and drawing that line in the sand with Walt,  I think that is the main thrust of season three is that she really does stumble on the truth but she doesn’t  know everything, and that is occupying her mind,  and what happens is Skylar is thinking, ‘what does she do?  Does she run away?  What does she do next?’

Gunn continued. “For her it is always what is best for her children. The baby is too young to know and Walt Jr just idolizes Walter.  She puts herself in the painful position to be the bad guy.  Hank (Dean Norris) is angry at Skylar for seemingly tormenting Walter by her actions that she keeps to herself…all the characters Skylar feels are looking at her like,  ‘what a mean person’  and ‘why you are kicking him out of the house?’

“I think she is an awful painful position to be in, but she has a steel core to her, no ‘poor me’ is in Skylar, and she is incredibly analytical in surveying the situation, there’s a sense of real control in her."

Gunn acknowledged that Skylar is out of the maternity clothes and mommy story line in a big way.

“Skylar’s sexual side emerges, she gets some …she's got a vibe...it was a conscientious thing to have her wear different clothes, more makeup and break from the asexual mom role, for her the sense of the position she is in now is like…not in an overt way but she is reclaiming her power as a woman"  

Gunn spoke about Walter’s different path, “Skylar is reborn, and with Walt Jr. we have concerns for him.  Skylar too finds her relationship with Marie (Betsy Brandt) strengthening."

“Skylar’s sister Marie (Brandt) is wonderful, that relationship is explored more in into season 4…we did some talking with Vince about their relationship.  Marie and Skylar are a tribe of two, you know, it’s interesting that no parents show up for Skylar, it’s her sister.  Skylar is a slightly older sister and they take care of each other, and when we are doing that family scene in the premiere episode, Marie is strangely a voice of reason and calm. They really look out for each other, it’s a very real relationship depicting sisters, who fight and drive each other crazy at times but ultimately are loyal to each other.”

Gunn shared some insight into Hank’s (Dean Norris) arc for the new season. “For Hank it is going to be a really interesting season; he is getting closer and closer to Walt, and as his character - he's a hearty hale bluff fellow - you get to know more about him, you see more shadows and folds of his character this season.”

The dramatic opening to “Breaking Bad” featured two brothers who make a formidable hit man unit. “The two heavies you see in the premiere - one of them is an actor, the other brother had never acted, and they are the sweetest guys,” said Gunn.

Jesse (Aaron Paul) and Walt go their separate ways at the beginning of the season until Bryan Cranston revealed at the TCAs that they are rejoined by their "natural polarity."  Just like Walt, Jesse’s a changed man in season three.

Breaking Bad airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC.