Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston says the new season of the AMC series starts just where it left off - and then hits the ground running.
SPOILERS: This article contains major spoilers for season four of Breaking Bad, and the prior seasons, and general discussion about season five. The video also contains parts of a scene from episode one of season five.
Cranston has won three back-to-back Emmys playing lead character Walter White, a hapless chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth to raise money for his family after he discovers he has terminal lung cancer.
The series co-stars Aaron Paul who plays White's former slacker student-turned meth dealer - that White partners up with to start his drug operation.
At the end of season four, Cranston reminds us; White finally got the best of his rival Gustavo Fring by planting a bomb in the wheelchair of a character Gustavo used to visit.
"At the beginning of season five we pick up the story almost immediately after we left season four with Walt saying he won and feeling pretty good about himself,” says Cranston.
“He goes home he sees a certain plant in the back yard, Lilies of the Valley. We realise something dreadful has happened but he's got a lot of cleaning up to do. Remember he just made this bomb in the kitchen of his and house and his family is away at Hank Schrader's house.
“So he knows he has a limited amount of time. He's cleaning and doing all things. Everything's done. Fantastic. I'm going to have a little drink and then he realises, 'Oh my God. There's a component I completely forgot about,' and that's not like him. There's an element that is the catalyst in episode one that makes the episode go and that's when he realises that he's overlooked a certain aspect of Gus Fring's empire that could catch him in a trap so I grab Jesse, we have to find out what's going on and we devise a plan."
Meanwhile, Jesse still does not realise that it was White who poisoned his girlfriend's son - but Paul says he's still torn about his partner's continuing descent to the dark side.
“In season five Jesse's still - he's such an emotional wreck always and there just so - I keep saying they're so in over their heads but maybe they're not any more,” says Paul.
“There just so used to this madness and like Bryan was saying, they need to cover their tracks and it's pure desperation in the first episode because if they don't figure this out then all is revealed and we're all busted and so it's pretty intense from moment one and it just continues to just spiral out of control throughout this season and the tone of this season is so dark; just the tone of it. It's so eerie - is what it is."
"When Gus Fring was eliminated from the potential danger one could go and say, 'Wow that was a close call. Let's get out of this now. I never want to be anywhere around this kind of situation again,’” says White.
“Or - as Walter White does - 'Look what I did. That's right. I just been the mastermind; the guy who held all the cards and now look,' and so he's in full rage of self-glory and that creates a huge problem.
“So I cultivate this and we expand our enterprise and bring other people involved in season five but with any organization you're only as strong as your weakest link and we discover a couple weak links in this and things unravel and they come back together and they unravel again big time."
Cranston says White has almost completed a complete transformation from a hapless chemistry teacher to a full-fledged drug lord.
"He's completely different person,” says White.
“He's been seduced by the lifestyle, by becoming important - even if it's anonymously, creating something that everyone else is talking about so he's got some kind of dark infamy, he has money for the first time in his life, even if it's anonymous respect he's got respect and can intimidate another man terribly.
“That's enough to pump your chest out. That's Silverback gorilla chest beating time and that's what he's feeling right now. That's what he's feeling right now. He's feeling like he can beat his chest and be a man in all the negative senses of what being a man is in our understanding of it and it's very animalistic. He's feeling very basic things; control, power, dominance; those things and those ugly factors have come to the surface."
And Paul says those around White - including his wife and Jesse - are not happy with Walter's new demeanour.
"Jesse - the way he's looking at Walter White - he's noticing that there's something else going on,” says Paul.
“There's something else that is driving Mr White right now. It's not just making money. It's something else. There's something brewing deep inside of him but Jesse has such loyalties towards him and he's there for him but he's trying somewhat keep his distance and feels like he's maybe walking on eggshells a little bit and I think he's becoming a little scared of him in a way."
Cranston and Paul's on-screen chemistry is undeniable in their odd couple sort of relationship. Cranston says they both are friends in real life as well.
"We have a good time. We have a good time. He doesn't call me Mr Cranston likes Jesse calls him Mr White but you should start," to which Paul responds, "I'll call you whatever you want."
Only 16 episodes of Breaking Bad remain, which AMC splitting up to play over this year and next. Creator Vince Gilligan has said the show will trace Walter's transformation from a high school teacher to full-fledged drug lord.
Cranston, who has previously said he thought the series could stay on the air longer, says he would consider being part of a film if there is one.
"The issue is only Vince and his writers know how this is going to end,” says Cranston.
“We don't know season six is going to end there might not be anyone around to do the movie. We keep teasing each other. I say, 'You know how Jesse Pinkman's going to die? I'll tell you how he's going to die.' He says, 'No, no. He kills Walter White.' We honestly don't know which is great 'cause we can't slip up and tell the secret because we don't know."
Breaking Bad season five premieres in the US Sunday July 15th at 10pm Eastern on the AMC network (July 16, 2pm New Zealand time).
Watch Breaking Bad on demand free at four.co.nz.
AP