Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul Ate Blue Meth Rock Candy On Set To Stay Awake

Appearing on the Hot Ones podcast recently, Bryan Cranston shared a behind-the-scenes story from Breaking Bad involving his co-star Aaron Paul eating the fake blue meth on set to help stay awake on long days. Cranston, who played Walt on the show, confirmed that the show's iconic blue meth was actually cotton candy-flavored rock candy.

On one particularly long day of shooting--Cranston said it could have been as long as 17 hours--Cranston and Paul were filming a scene in the meth lab bunker. Cranston said he saw Paul reach into the "product," grab a handful, and begin to pop the candy into his mouth.

"I go, 'You can't eat the product!'" Cranston said. Paul told Cranston he was so tired that he wanted to consume some sugar to help stay awake. Paul pressured Cranston into trying the rock candy again and again, but Cranston didn't give in until Paul yelled, "Yo! Have one!" And to put an end to the matter, Cranston agreed to sample the product. "I tasted one, and was like, 'That's pretty good!'" he said.

Cranston and Paul are getting back into character to play Walt and Jesse once again in an upcoming Super Bowl commercial for PopCorners--watch the video here.

Breaking Bad ended in 2013. A prequel TV series in the same universe, Better Call Saul, ran from 2015-2022, and both Cranston and Paul came back for that series in a flashback episode. A Breaking Bad movie called El Camino, meanwhile, picked up Jesse's story after the events of Breaking Bad.