The ‘Breaking Bad 2 Trailer,’ Explained

In late August 2023, a video purporting to be a trailer for the series Breaking Bad 2 began to appear on Reddit and Twitter — containing spoilers for the popular television series Breaking Bad and its prequel, Better Call Saul:

The video was shared to several subreddits, including r/breakingbad, r/funny, and r/videos (twice). It was popular on TikTok, and Google Trends data measured “Breakout” levels of interest in searches for “Breaking Bad 2” and “Breaking Bad 2 trailer.”

All iterations featured the same video, which was lengthy for a “trailer” at six and a half minutes long. It kicked off with the final moments of the original Breaking Bad, revising major character deaths to allow for Breaking Bad 2.

On August 22 2023, user @chubs. uploaded the video (“Breaking Bad 2 – Official Trailer”) to YouTube. An appended description didn’t fully articulate that the trailer was fan-made and unofficial, hinting at it instead of saying it outright:

Get ready to break bad one more time with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, returning to the silver screen for Breaking Bad 2. Watch AMC’s official Breaking Bad 2 trailer now, streaming on AMC +, AMC – and AMC %. #breakingbad #breakingbad2

Video at 4:00 is from

• Mikes Best Fight – Better Call Saul . YT: Tomas Cottle. Would highly recommend checking out his work.

Disclosure: Vince Gilligan was absolutely not under the influence of any drugs during the writing process for this production. Special thanks to Brad Pitt for showing up for a one second cameo at 0:23. Truly one of the actors of all time.

However, commenters clearly observed the trailer was not “real,” replying:

“This is really well made. I love how the further along the trailer gets the more unrealistic it becomes[.]”

“Absolutely love how it just keep escalating into sheer insanity[,] Like there’s no breaks your just strapped in and have to go along with the ride[.]”

“I feel bad that we won’t ever get to see this masterpiece[.]”

Several viewers indicated that the nature of the clip was not immediately apparent:

“Damn, I believed this for the first 2 minutes Lmao ????????????????????[.]”

“I love how it seems possible at first, and then just everyone turns out to be alive and have superpowers xD[.]”

“I was so excited with this. Then I thought damn.. this has gone to extreme lengths ???? insane work went into this, absoultely spectacular. Just incredible to be honest.”

“I believed this for longer than I should! If it wasn’t for Bryan Cranston in the beginning telling us to prepare for the official trailer for Breaking Bad 2 I would have thought it was fan made! Then it got too crazy! And crazier still the longer it went on!”

Unsurprisingly, the viral “trailer” generated entertainment blog buzz. On August 28 2023, CBR.com covered the Breaking Bad 2 “trailer,” and described a few of the long (and increasingly surreal) events of the video — again, with spoilers for the end of Breaking Bad:

The trailer imagines Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) coming back from the dead, having literally dug himself out of the hole he’d been buried in. That footage came from a joke video that the Breaking Bad team had filmed previously, though it also served as a setup to explain Hank’s resurrection in the Breaking Bad 2 parody. Oddly enough, that’s not even the strangest part of the video, given how another character channels Homelander from The Boys by taking out a large crowd of people by shooting lasers from his eyes.

In late August 2023, a purported Breaking Bad 2 trailer spread virally. It was created and uploaded by YouTube user @chubs. on August 22 2023, but was clearly a fan tribute to the Breaking Bad universe. The video was entertaining and largely perceived as a fan work, but the humorous nature of the clip wasn’t immediately apparent to all viewers.