‘Breaking Bad’: Bryan Cranston Reveals His Favorite Walter White Line — It’s Not ‘I Am the One Who Knocks’
There are dozens of quotable lines from the iconic AMC series Breaking Bad. Some are funny, others sad, but they all have the same thing in common: fans are still repeating them, even years after the final episode aired.
Actor Bryan Cranston, who played the main character Walter White on the show, is responsible for many of the best-loved quotes on the series. However, his favorite line isn’t the one you’d expect.
Fans are obsessed with ‘I am the one who knocks’ from ‘Breaking Bad’
Picturing Walter White transforming into Heisenberg inevitably leads back to the scene when he gives a chilling speech to his wife, Skyler. As she becomes increasingly frightened about outside forces who could harm them, Walt gets frustrated that she doesn’t understand the power he’s wielding.
He tells her, “No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!”
That speech is truly one of the best. Still, it’s not Cranston’s favorite from Breaking Bad.
Bryan Cranston loves the line ‘tread lightly’
Though he surely sees the gravitas of “I am the one who knocks,” that’s not the line Cranston uses when he signs autographs for fans.
Instead, he’s partial to Walter White’s “tread lightly” speech, which he delivers to his brother-in-law Hank Scrader in season 5 episode 9, “Blood Money.” When DEA Agent Hank realizes Walt is Heisenberg, Walt responds with that line.
“If that’s true, if you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly,” Walt says. The 64-year-old actor even scribbles the words on fan merchandise while he’s giving autographs.
‘Tread lightly’ is like a motto for Walter White
Cranston explained to Entertainment Weekly that “tread lightly” represents the way Walt conducts himself throughout the series.
“It’s his credo,” Cranston said. “In many ways, he was very careful. Even though he stepped into landmines, he was very careful almost all the time.”
He continued, citing instances when “tread lightly” failed Walt.
“When he didn’t follow that motto is when he failed, like shooting Mike,” he said. “It was very emotional. And the brazen hubris of telling Jesse, ‘I watched Jane die.’ It was unnecessary cruelty and emotional vomiting from his point. When he didn’t follow that credo is when he found himself in the most troubling condition.”
Cranston also shared his favorite scene and episode
Like so many fans, Cranston also chose a favorite scene of Breaking Bad plus two favorite episodes.
The scene he appreciated was during season 5 episode 5, “Dead Freight.” After he and the crew successfully pull off the nerve-racking train heist, Todd takes out a gun and kills the young witness to the crime without hesitation. Cranston called it, “a beautifully constructed narrative” that showed “morality and consequences” to their criminal actions.
As for his favorite episodes, that honor goes to “Phoenix” from season 2 and “Felina,” the series finale, Screen Rant reported.
