Breaking Bad - Giancarlo Esposito Untold Gus Fring Backstory

There’s little doubt that Giancarlo Esposito played one of the best characters in serialized TV last year, with his chilling yet sympathetic performance as drug lord Gustavo Fring. In a recent Q&A, Esposito shares his thoughts on the character and dishes some secrets that you might not have known about Gus — including some that might yet come to light.

Contains Spoilers if you’re yet to see the end of Breaking Bad‘s fourth season

In the Q&A with Reddit readers, Esposito shed light on Gus’ backstory, the character’s function as protagonist, whether Walt really defeated him, and why we might not have seen the last of Gus following his demise at the end of Season 4. Check out the quotables below, followed with Esposito’s Q&A video responses..

On Gus’ backstory connection to Pinochet government and possible directions the show could have gone with the character..and still might:

“In episode 4.08 Don Eladio says to Gus, ‘we know who you are, that’s the only reason why you’re still alive.’ This particular line referred back to Vince [Gilligan's] idea that Gustavo had very deep ties to the Pinochet government, and somewhere around episode 4.03, Vince stared to explain to me some of the things that could happen in the fourth season. Gus was probably a guy who was a General at some point or a Lieutenant and had probably killed a lot of people — or maybe was a hero in the army. I had all these thoughts that we’d get a chance to find out more about that, and who knows, we still might.”

On whether Walt really ‘won’ in his battle with Gus:

“Ultimately, Walter White did kinda of win. ..Well, he did kind of win. In the moment he takes Gus out he is smarter than Gus. He certainly steps up to the plate and figures out how to get this guy.
From the very first episode I did the line always stuck with me, when Walter comes in and says ‘I was referred to you,’ and [the writers say Gus and Walter] were very much alike, and I think that was intriguing for the writers to play with that you could have Gus and Walt be so, so much alike. I mean even down to the shoes [that Walter wears], as the manager of Los Pollos Hermanos, I’m wearing those exact same shoes, so I liked that but there are some differences, which I hope [we'll see] in flashbacks [if Gus is to come back].
The only difference between [them] is that Gus had the mechanism, the machine, the people, the control — he had the biggr picture that Walt did not, so in many ways they’re equally as talented.”

On Breaking Bad‘s protagonists and why Gus is one of them, in his own special way:

“I do know that Walter White is the hero — or anti-hero, in many ways — but because nothing on this show is ever black or white, it makes for very interesting television. I think that Gustavo Fring is an absolutely good human-being — I’d have to [in order to] play him as I do. When I finally realized that he should be really good in his heart, even though he does despicable things, that’s when everything started to shift with what I was starting to create, and that’s when the audience really started to respond and hate him, but also love him.”

Watch the videos to the above quotables below: