If This Vince Gilligan Pilot Had Succeeded, ‘Breaking Bad’ Might Never Have Existed
What To Know
- Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz co-wrote a sci-fi action thriller pilot called A.M.P.E.D. in 2007.
- Despite production of the pilot, Spike TV declined to pick up A.M.P.E.D. as a series.
- The failure of A.M.P.E.D. led Gilligan to focus on Breaking Bad.
Breaking Bad is regarded as one of the best series in television; a show that seized the pop-culture zeitgeist and evolved into one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed dramas of its generation. But getting it on the air was a struggle, and that journey was shaped, somewhat surprisingly, by the unexpected failure of a different TV pilot that ultimately cleared the way for creator Vince Gilligan‘s series to move forward.
In 2007, Gilligan and director Frank Spotnitz co-wrote a 2007 pilot for a sci-fi action thriller called A.M.P.E.D. The series would have followed Minneapolis police officials and authorities as they worked to stop an epidemic that caused genetic mutations in its hosts, turning them into savage creatures incapable of rational thought. In the show, the highly contagious virus drove its victims into frenzied, uncontrollable violence, turning them against anyone nearby and putting all of society at risk.
Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz (Francois Durand/Getty Images)
“The idea is that the world has changed,” Spotnitz said in an interview with the Hollywood North Report. “It’s a very dangerous world. A certain percentage of the population are mutating and turning into monsters. And it depends on your specific DNA what type of monster you become. So the cops who work in this precinct go out every day, and they literally don’t know what they’re going to encounter.”
Pitched to cable network Spike TV, the show was set to star Lee Tergesen, Sarah Joy Brown, and Tony Curran. According to Backstage, Steven Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, who co-created and produced NBC’s then-hit The Pretender would have come on board as showrunners/executive producers, while Rob Lieberman would have directed the pilot and served as an executive producer.
BREAKING BAD, (from left): Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, ‘Hazard Pay’, (Season 5, ep. 503, aired July 29, 2012), 2008-2012. Photo: Ursula Coyote / © AMC / Courtesy Everett Collection
Production of the A.M.P.E.D. pilot took place in October 2006 in Vancouver, but Spike ultimately declined to pick it up to series. With that project stalled, Gilligan shifted his attention to another idea about a high school teacher whose cancer diagnosis pushes him into the criminal underworld.
Breaking Bad debuted on AMC on January 20, 2008 with its pilot episode. And while the two projects were entirely different in content and style, they shared a thematic fascination with the transformation of ordinary men into something much darker and circumstance can warp a person beyond recognition.
Remind