Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn Ponders Skyler's Own Future: 'It Wouldn't Surprise Me' If She Dies

What a fine meth Breaking Bad‘s Skyler finds herself in, as the acclaimed AMC drama unspools its final season.
Yes, Walter White’s wife originally went along with the scheme he cooked up, to dabble in drugs as a means to provide for his family in the event of him being felled by cancer. But in recent seasons, Skyler has seen that her hubby is capable of much more – even murk.
On the occasion of Anna Gunn being bestowed with her very first Emmy nomination, in the Supporting Actress in a Drama race, TVLine invited her to detail just how dire an existence her Bad bride has been dealt.

TVLINE | You’ve been nominated for your first major award — an Emmy. That is a big, fat first.
It is a big, fat first! It is…. It just feels fantastic to be recognized. I mean, to hear your name in the same breath as [Downton Abbey nominee] Maggie Smith? Just mind-blowing to me. She’s one of my favorites ever. I’ve been smiling so much, my face hurts! This week for Breaking Bad has been a whirlwind of great stuff. We had great [ratings] on Sunday, the reaction we received at Comic-Con was incredible….

TVLINE | The premiere numbers were really something. In a climate when most shows can only hope to hold onto their audience, Breaking Bad is hitting all-time highs — in its fifth season.
That blew me away, given the whole thing about [DISH Network] and people not being able to see it. Also, when I think the writing can’t get any better, it does. The storylines get more complex and the characters get richer…. I really bow down to [series creator] Vince [Gilligan] and all the writers, because I don’t know how they do it. And I can never ever predict, from the beginning of a season to the end, how it’s going to go. They always take a hairpin turn.

TVLINE | What is going on inside Skyler’s head at this instant, as Walt hugs her and says, “I forgive you“?
She’s in not a good place. Of course she only knew a little bit at the beginning — she thought it was “just” drug dealing and cooking, she didn’t realize it went as far as it did. So when she realizes at the end of Season 4 that he had something to do with Gus Fring’s [rip], the bottom has fallen out of her life. Any illusion of control that she had is just smashed. It’s like she’s in freefall, desperately trying to reach out for something to hang onto, and for the first time in the series she doesn’t know what move to make next. I think she feels like she is being held hostage by Walt, like she is backed so far into the comer there’s nowhere for her to go. Skyler thought she could fix it, or steer it, but she realizes there’s no way. So all these emotions have been bubbling up finally just boil over.

TVLINE | As you alluded, earlier on it was for semi-altruistic reasons that Walt was dabbling in meth. But now, he’s aiming to be the meth king just to be the meth king. Does Skyler go along with it out of some sense of guilt, because she blew their money…?
I think it’s a question for her, why she doesn’t take the kids and run off somewhere, why she doesn’t turn him into the police. She is in it now. She’s culpable, and she has been part of it, so she’s stuck in it like quicksand that’s pulling her down. She feels like there is no escape, and everything she has tried to do to make it be “OK,” none of those things has worked. They’ve only gotten her deeper into it.

TVLINE | Lastly, I’m curious: In the first few minutes of the Season 5 premiere, we saw where Walt is at, some point in the future. Has Vince confided what Skyler is up to at that same moment?
No, not a single word — and I sort of prefer it that way, because then the honesty of the present moment you’re playing is pure. I’ve wondered a lot — where is she? Where is the family? And I honestly have no idea.

TVLINE | Would it surprise you if, at the end of the day, Skyler doesn’t make it out of the series alive?
It wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t make it out. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did somehow rise above it. Like I say, you can never predict where they’re going to take these characters, and I’m as fascinated as anybody to find out!