Penn Badgley Reveals He Almost Landed Aaron Paul’s “Breaking Bad” Role

Penn Badgley at the
Penn Badgley at the "You" arrivals at PaleyFest in 2018. Photo by David Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock (9877942n)

With Gossip Girl and You, Penn Badgley has two successful TV shows under his belt, but there’s one that got away. Badgley revealed he came very close to being cast as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, but eventually lost the role to Aaron Paul.

Badgley recently set down with Buzzfeed for an interview, and one thing that came up during the conversations are the roles he auditioned for, but never won. He was one of the actors in the running for the role of Jesse Pinkman, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“One I got close on was Breaking Bad. It was between me and Aaron Paul, we tested. Actually, that was the best television script I’d read at that point. That was the one that got away,” said the Gossip Girl alum.

Aaron Paul eventually got his big break in the role of Walter White’s former student and right-hand man Jessie Pinkman. He portrayed this character between 2008 and 2013, won three Emmy Awards for this performance, and later reprised the role in the Netflix film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

Badgley’s career also flourished despite his failure to land this role. He rose to prominence while playing Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl, and he’s currently starring as Joe Goldberg in the hit Netflix series You.