Breaking Bad, Vinge Gilligan’s critically acclaimed TV series, is celebrated for its morally complex characters and intricate storylines. However, when it comes to the debate of who is the most hated character on the show, there appears to be a unanimous decision amongst fans. To my surprise, this was neither cartel kingpin Gustavo Fring, nor chemistry teacher turned DIY drug-lord Walter White – but rather his wife, Skyler. And Mrs. White isn’t just one of the most hated characters in Breaking Bad; she has also gone down as one of the most reviled in TV history. Recently voted the #1 hated television show character on Pubity’s Instagram, this new revelation has me wondering: How? Why?
Breaking Bad tells the story of Walter White, a chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer. To ensure his family’s financial security after his inevitable death, he begins making and dealing crystal meth. Walter White’s character embodies the classic antihero, whose good intentions snowball into moral decay. Skyler, intended to be a relatable figure for viewers, represents an average person coping with their spouse’s sudden involvement in organised crime. The aim was for fans to sympathise with Skyler White. As Gilligan stated, “in the early days she was the voice of morality on the show…she was the one telling him, “You can’t cook crystal meth””. The dislike taken to Skyler was not an deliberate aspect of the show’s writing – creator Vince Gilligan actually never understood why fans despised Walter White’s wife.
Nevertheless, they did. Online forums such as Reddit were flooded with fans discussing their hatred for Walter’s wife as they eagerly awaited her character’s death. Rather than perceiving Skyler as a long-suffering partner, viewers considered her efforts to ensure the family’s safety as a significant hindrance to Walt’s “success”. With one of the first on-screen encounters with the couple involving Walt sexually assaulting Skyler, and the subsequent danger he posed to her and their children as the series developed, it remains perplexing why people harboured this dislike to this woman, who was a victim in many ways.
It is not a stretch to assume that these negative perceptions of Skyler stem from chauvinism. Vince Gilligan himself asserted that “the people who have these issues with the wives being too bitchy on Breaking Bad are misogynists, plain and simple”. The bizarre incel phenomenon of male fans attempting to find a hero in Walter White exposes their sexist values, and discredits Skyler’s role as both a mother and a sufferer of spousal abuse.
Anna Gunn, the actress who played Skyler, received countless hate and threats from vicious fans who had trouble separating reality from fiction. Neither Gunn nor Gilligan understood the backlash. Gunn expressed to Entertainment Weekly that the hate was “very bizarre and confusing to us all… it was a combination of sexism, ideas about gender roles, and then honestly, the brilliance of the construct of the show.”
In conclusion, don’t ask a Breaking Bad fan to choose between a homicidal drug-lord and a woman. Because, seriously? You don’t want the answer.
Written By: Grace Tickner
Edited By: Ella Littlewood