"Breaking Bad" Star Aaron Paul Confirms That Jesse Pinkman Is A Murderer

That Season Three cliffhanger wasn't intended to be a cliffhanger after all.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Remember how, in the riveting finale of Breaking Bad's stellar third season, schoolteacher-turned-meth-cook Walter White (Bryan Cranston) sends Jesse Pinkman, his recovering addict partner played by Aaron Paul, to kill Gale (David Costabile), an amiable chemist and the only other person capable of manufacturing high-grade blue meth, so business-first drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) won't be able to eliminate them without damaging his supply? Right before the credits roll, Jesse is pointing a gun at Gale, then appears to jerk his aim slightly wide before the screen goes black and a gunshot is heard.

Like most people, I accepted this as a cliffhanger and debated the ending with other Breaking Bad junkies like Slim Thug. Did Jesse kill Gale? Did he fire wide, unable to go through with it? Did he shoot one of Fring's thugs who was creeping up behind Gale? According to Paul, who I recently interviewed for the August/September issue of Complex, it was never a mystery: Jesse murdered Gale.

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If you think about it, there was only one way that final scene could have played out on a show like Breaking Bad, which grows darker by the season, forcing its characters to deal with the consequences of the despicable acts they've committed. Jesse was already racked with guilt because his friend Combo (Rodney Rush) was gunned down while pushing meth for him and his heroin addict girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter) choked to death on her own vomit, so we can only imagine the weight he'll be shouldering after murdering a decent man to save his and Walt's evil hides. Check out the Breaking Bad Season Four trailer below and be sure to tune in to AMC on July 17 to see how he handles it.

Interview by Justin Monroe (@40yardsplash)

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